LONDON, April 14: World oil prices rallied on Thursday after tumbling overnight to about $50 a barrel owing to easing supply concerns in the United States. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, climbed 63 cents to $50.85 per barrel in early deals. The contract briefly fell below $50 on Thursday, for the first time since late February, reaching $49.75.

In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in May gained 42 cents to $50.90 per barrel.

Prices are “showing a little slight correction”, Barclays Capital analyst Kevin Norrish said.

Oil prices had slumped to the lowest close in nearly two months on Wednesday after US crude stockpiles posted a surprisingly big increase, easing fears of a shortage of gasoline ahead of the northern hemisphere summer, brokers said.

New York’s main contract tumbled $1.64 to end at $50.22 per barrel on Wednesday, its lowest finish since February 18.

The Brent price meanwhile lost $1.50 to $50.48.

By Wednesday’s close, New York prices had slumped by nearly 14 per cent since supply worries pushed them to a historic high point of $58.28 on April 4, the same day Brent crude rocketed to a record $57.65.

The catalyst for Wednesday’s slump was strong US inventories data.

The US Department of Energy (DoE) said crude stockpiles for the week ending April 8 had risen 3.6 million barrels to 320.7 million barrels, against a rise of just 500,000 barrels expected by Wall Street.—AFP