OIL PRICE: ABOVE $55

REUTERS , BLOOMBERG ,  OILPRICE - U.S. crude oil prices rose above $50 per barrel on Monday and were near last week's multi-month highs as the number of U.S. rigs drilling for new production fell and refineries continued to restart after getting knocked out by Hurricane Harvey.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were trading up 41 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $50.30 by 0852 GMT, near the three-month high of $50.50 it reached last Thursday.

Brent crude futures LCOc1, the benchmark for oil prices outside the United States, were at $55.91 a barrel, up 29 cents, and also not far from the near five-month high of $55.99 touched on Thursday.

"Demand forecasts from OPEC and IEA ... continued to improve sentiment in the market. Refineries are also reporting a much better recovery from the recent hurricanes," ANZ bank said on Monday.

Oil refineries across the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean were restarting after being shut due to hurricanes Harvey and Irma, which battered the region over the past three weeks.

Royal Dutch Shell's  Deer Park refinery in Texas was among the latest, beginning its restart on Sunday. The plant can process 325,700 barrels per day.

The refinery restarts are occurring "as signs emerge of stalling growth in the U.S. shale industry. The number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. fell sharply last week," ANZ said.

U.S. energy firms cut seven oil rigs in the week to Sept. 15, bringing the total to 749, the fewest since June, energy services company Baker Hughes said on Friday. 

Despite these signs of a tightening market, analysts warned that distortions from the recent hurricanes made it hard to identify more long-lasting supply and demand fundamentals.

"This week's crude inventories data will almost certainly still show the distortions of Harvey and Irma and significant increases may be looked at by traders as outlier data," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at futures brokerage OANDA.

Hedge funds and other money managers cut their bullish bets on U.S. crude futures and options in the week to Sept. 12, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission reported on Friday.

Commerzbank said in a note on Monday that "speculative financial investors reduced their net long positions in WTI by 15,600 contracts," warning that "because most of the latest price rise only happened after this, it is not yet reflected in the data."

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Earlier:

September, 15, 09:05:00 OIL PRICE: NOT ABOVE $56 U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 was down 21 cents, or 0.4 percent, at $49.68 a barrel at 0302 GMT. It briefly broke above $50 on Thursday, hitting a four-month high, and finished 1.2 percent higher at $49.89, its highest close since July 31. Brent crude LCOc1 futures were down 29 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $55.18 a barrel. They gained 0.6 percent to settle at $55.47 the previous session, the highest close since April 13. Русский | English

September, 15, 09:00:00 OIL PRICES: $50 - $60 Oil prices are expected to hold between $50 and $60 a barrel as bloated global stocks fall after a deal between OPEC and other producers to trim output, BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley said on Thursday. English

September, 13, 15:25:00 OIL PRICE: NOT ABOVE $55 By 1021 GMT, international benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 was up 27 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $54.54 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) CLc1 was up 38 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $48.61 a barrel. Русский | English

September, 13, 15:20:00 OIL PRICES: $51 - $52, GAS PRICES: $3.05 - $3.29 EIA forecasts Brent spot prices to average $51/b in 2017 and $52/b in 2018. Expected growth in natural gas exports and domestic natural gas consumption in 2018 contribute to the forecast Henry Hub natural gas spot price rising from an annual average of $3.05/MMBtu in 2017 to $3.29/MMBtu in 2018. English

September, 13, 15:15:00 OPEC OIL PRICE UP 6% TO $49.6 The OPEC Reference Basket rose for the second-consecutive month in August to average $49.60/b, representing a gain of $2.67/b or 6%. Year-to-date, the Basket was 30.9% higher at $49.73/b. Crude futures prices also saw gains with ICE Brent increasing 5.5% to $51.87/b and NYMEX WTI up 3.0% at $48.06/b. Year-to-date, crude futures prices were more than 20% higher. During the week of 29 August money managers cut WTI futures and options net long positions by 105,671 contracts to 147,303 lots, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said. Money managers slightly reduced Brent futures and options net length contracts by 1,296 to 416,551 lots during the same week. English

September, 11, 12:45:00 OIL PRICE: NOT ABOVE $53 U.S. crude for October delivery CLc1 was up 41 cents, or 0.9 percent, at $47.89 a barrel by 0648 GMT, having tumbled 3.3 percent on Friday. London Brent crude for November delivery LCOc1 was up 30 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $54.08, having settled down 1.3 percent. Русский | English

September, 11, 12:40:00 ЦЕНА НЕФТИ: $40 - $43 Глава "Роснефти" Игорь Сечин ожидает, что в 2018 году цена на нефть будет колебаться в пределах $40-$43 за баррель. "При предварительном анализе, в следующем году мы будем иметь цены в пределах $40-43 за баррель", - сказал он в интервью телеканалу "Россия 24". Русский