VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Brent crude oil prices rose above $59 a barrel on Wednesday amid tension in the Middle East and signs of a dip in U.S. production, but gains were capped by a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) indicating that supplies would take longer to tighten than previously expected.

Union workers were on strike for a second day on Monday at nine U.S. refineries and chemical plants in an attempt to force oil companies to sign a new national contract covering laborers at 63 plants.

Oil fell 5 percent to its lowest in nearly six years on Monday, extending the second-deepest rout on record, after Goldman Sachs warned that prices would fall further and Gulf oil producers showed no sign of cutting output.

Brent and U.S. crude oil each fell more than $2 a barrel on Monday to a new five-year low amid a rising number of predictions that oversupply would extend well into 2015.

Crude oil markets jumped as much as 5 percent on Monday, rebounding from five-year lows with their biggest daily gain since 2012, on fears that the high U.S. shale output blamed for the global oil glut may be shrinking.