It may be time to say goodbye to cheap oil with a barrel going back over 66 dollars on Wednesday after news US stocks had a sharp weekly fall, and production growth figures there were levelling off.

The fall in stocks was much bigger than forecast, four times more in fact, and in Washington the announcement it believed domestic oil production would fall more strongly and for longer than expected also weighed heavily on the market.

Only in January buyers were cheering a price below 47 dollars as oversupply and topped-up reserves combined in a perfect storm for suppliers.

The Energy Information Administration also revised a 2016 estimate for oil production, from growth to a 160,000 bpd contraction.