Indian state-run oil refiners have called for Nigeria to increase its total term contract volumes next year by more than 20% as demand from the South Asian country climbs, an official from Nigeria's state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation said.

North Sea Brent crude oil LCOc1 was up 10 cents a barrel at $54.03 by 0950 GMT. U.S. light crude CLc1 was up 15 cents at $51.08 a barrel.

EIA forecasts Brent crude oil prices to average $43 per barrel (b) in 2016 and $52/b in 2017. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices are forecast to average about $1/b less than Brent prices in 2017. The values of futures and options contracts indicate significant uncertainty in the price outlook.

The balance between demand and supply in the oil market will shift earlier than previously expected due to OPEC's output cuts, with prices heading towards $60 a barrel next year, Statoil's chief executive said on Tuesday. Brent crude futures LCOc1 hit $55 a barrel on Monday, the highest level since July 2015, after OPEC agreed on Dec. 1 to curb production by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) from January.

The worldwide rig count for November 2016 was 1,678, up 58 from the 1,620 counted in October 2016, and down 369 from the 2,047 counted in November 2015.

International Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were trading at $54.83 per barrel at 1127 GMT, down 11 cents from Monday's close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $51.50 a barrel, down 29 cents.

Russia has also benefited this year from oil's price stabilization and a recent deal between major crude producers to curb output has raised expectations of higher prices next year. The central bank has a medium-term oil price forecast of $40 a barrel.

Indonesian companies are interested to join upstream projects in Iran's oil industry in fields like Ab Teymour and Mansouri oilfields, said Chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) of Indonesia Zulkifli Hasan.

The auction of the deepwater blocks, four in the Perdido Fold belt near the US side of the Gulf and six in the unexplored Salina basin further south, marked the culmination of the first round of auctions since Mexico enacted a sweeping reform to open a sector closed to private exploration and production for nearly 80 years.

Brent crude oil futures LCOc1, the global benchmark used to trade oil, soared to its highest since July 6, 2015 to $55.20 a barrel. It last traded at $55.08 a barrel, up 62 cents, or 1.1 percent, at 0946 GMT. WTI crude oil CLc1 traded up 54 cents, or 1 percent, at $52.22 a barrel.