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August Brent crude futures were up 85 cents at $50.02 a barrel
by 5.55 a.m. ET, set for a gain of 6 percent in two trading
days. NYMEX crude for July delivery, which expires on Tuesday,
was up 80 cents at $48.78 a barrel.
Campaigning for Britain's vote on EU membership resumed on
Sunday after a three-day hiatus prompted by the killing of a
pro-EU lawmaker.
Three opinion polls ahead of Thursday's vote showed the 'Remain'
camp recovering some momentum, although the overall picture
remained one of an evenly split electorate.
Investment safe havens such as gold, the U.S. dollar, German
bonds and the Swiss franc came under pressure, while oil looked
set for its largest two-day rise in a month and the likes of
copper and equities rallied.
"For oil as a risky asset, what we've seen are intraday
gyrations that are coming from the spillover effects of
'risk-on/risk-off' moves that follow the poll numbers," BNP
Paribas global head of commodity strategy Harry Tchilinguirian
said.
The pound climbed 1.6 percent to $1.4589, extending a recovery
from last Thursday's more than two-month trough of $1.4013. [USD/]
"With Brexit dominating the market headlines, it might be moves
in the U.S. dollar that drive the oil market at least until we
get that out of the way," said Michael McCarthy, chief market
strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney.
"It's likely to be a nervous and skittish week's trading."
Oil prices continued to recover despite data showing U.S. energy
firms adding oil rigs for a third week in a row, suggesting
higher production to come.
Oil services firm Baker Hughes reported nine rig additions in
the week to June 17. [RIG/U]
Aside from Brexit concerns, the market is likely to be caught in
a range as any gains would likely be limited by the return of
more shale drillers in the United States, CMC's McCarthy said.
"Capping market gains at the moment is the potential for those
very agile U.S. producers to jump back into production should we
see any further substantial rises," he said.
(Additional reporting by Aaron Sheldrick in TOKYO; Editing by
Dale Hudson and Jason Neely)
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