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Since April’s price rally of between 20 and 25 per cent, oil bulls have been pushing the market up on the notion that a supply glut was easing from tightening world production despite continuous builds in U.S. crude stockpiles.

U.S. crude settled up US$1.47 at US$60.40 a barrel, after hitting a 2015 high of US$61.10.

Brent, a more widely-used oil benchmark, rose US$1.10 to US$67.55 by 2:34 p.m. EDT, after scaling the year’s peak at US$68.40.

Still, some were not convinced the recent price gains would have much staying power.

“I think the market is getting ahead of itself,” said Dominick Chirichella, senior partner at the Energy Management Institute in New York.

“There’s plenty of producer hedging going on as well, and those production levels are not going to come down if demand projections are not met. This could simply mean we are setting ourselves up for another leg lower in prices,” Chirichella said.

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On Tuesday, North Sea crude differentials weakened from a sizeable volume of unsold loading supplies in May.

Crude prices have risen 50 per cent in just over three months, after the June-to-January selloff hammered the market down to around US$40 a barrel from last summer’s highs above US$100.

Data on Tuesday showed hedge funds and other money managers had raised bets for a six week in a row that Brent prices would rise.

The civil war in Yemen has kept the oil market on edge, boosting worries about the security of supplies in the Middle East.