Oil prices rise on supply-demand rebalance expectation

Oil prices rose on Tuesday as market expected crude supply and demand to rebalance early next year.

Global oil markets may swing from surplus to deficit in the first half of 2017 if the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and producers outside of OPEC stick to their agreements to cut supply, according to the International Energy Agency on Tuesday.

The oil supply will decline by about 600,000 barrels per day in the next six months, said the agency in its monthly market report. The agency previously assumed inventories would not drop until the end of 2017.

The West Texas Intermediate for January Delivery increased 0.15 U.S. dollars to settle at 52.98 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for February delivery added 0.03 dollars to close at 55.72 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Endit