Brent oil rises for second day, trades above $56/barrel

Brent oil rose for the second day with prices trading above $56/barrel despite concerns the increased US oil supplies would negate the impact of OPEC oil cuts.

The data from the InterContinental Exchange showed on Monday that speculators raised their bets on a rally in Brent oil prices to a record last week.

However, there are growing fears that the OPEC –led production cuts would not be sufficient to boost prices in the long run given the rise in the US supplies. The Baker Hughes data released on Friday showed the number of active oil rigs rose for a fifth week in a row, rising by 6 to 597 for the week ending February 17.

The US government inventory data will be released on Thursday, a day later than normal due to holiday on Monday.