WTI consolidates above $60, looks to finish 2017 10% higher

• WTI adds $1.5 in the last week of 2017.
• Forties pipeline's production rises and approaches normal levels.

Following Tuesday's sharp upsurge, crude oil prices went into a consolidation phase before regaining traction in the last day of 2017. The barrel of West Texas Intermediate on Friday refreshed its highest level since June 2015 at $60.32 and was last seen trading at $60.10, up 0.4% on the day.

The barrel of WTI started the year at $54.20 and lost more than $10 during the first six months of 2017 as American shale producers increased their production and didn't allow the market to rebalance despite the output cut deal between major OPEC and non-OPEC producers. However, as investors started to price the expectations of the output cut agreement getting extended for nine more months, crude oil prices reversed course and staged a decisive recovery in the second half of the year. In fact, following the meeting in Vienna on November 20, producers announced their decision to maintain oil production cuts until the end of 2018.

Meanwhile, recent forecasts of China's, the world's second-biggest oil consumer,  demand further increasing in 2018 and the global demand remaining robust on the back of a broad-based economic recovery, helped the crude oil to preserve its bullish momentum.

"The ethereal nature of demand is the most important issue we're currently facing. If perceived demand continues to increase, then prices could move higher. Worldwide economic improvement creates a reason for optimism in higher crude prices. Natural gas, on the other hand, is stuck in a rut for a very long time. Electric transportation vehicles and electric rail will drastically decrease the demand for crude oil in the longer term (20 years)," Reuters wrote in a recently published article.