Oil near December 2014 highs on OPEC output cuts

Oil prices held just below December 2014 highs on Monday, supported by ongoing output cuts led by OPEC and Russia despite a rise in US and Canadian drilling activity that points to higher future output in North America.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $64.29 a barrel at 5 pm, up 1 cents from their last close.

Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $69.72 per barrel, down 15 cents from their last close.

Both benchmarks last week reached levels not seen since December 2014, with Brent touching $70.05 a barrel and WTI as high as $64.77.

ANZ bank said on Monday that oil prices had recently risen “on the back of data continuing to show the market is tightening.”

Oil markets have been well supported by production cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia which are aimed at propping up crude prices.

Set to last through 2018, the cuts started in January last year and have coincided with healthy demand growth, pushing up crude prices by more than 13 percent since early December.

But other factors, including political risks, have also supported crude.

“Tighter fundamentals are [the] main driver to the rally in prices, but geopolitical risk and currency moves along with speculative money in tandem have exacerbated the move,” US bank JPMorgan said in a note.

Attracted by tighter supplies and strong consumption, financial investors have raised their net long US crude futures positions, which would profit from higher prices, to a new record, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission commented on Friday.