Oil ended higher Thursday for a fourth consecutive session, with the U.S. benchmark settling at a more-than-six-week high on expectations for stronger demand and efforts by major producers to maintain a cap on crude output.

October West Texas Intermediate oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 59 cents, or 1.2%, to settle at $49.89 a barrel after hitting a session high of $50.50. Prices settled at their highest since July 31, which was also the last day they finished above $50, FactSet data show. November Brent crude rose 31 cents, or 0.6%, to $55.47 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange, holding ground at their best levels in about five months. “Brent oil broke $55, a significant psychological level, urging investors to place bullish bets on the commodity,” said Adrienne Murphy, chief market analyst at AvaTrade. “However, investors are still reluctant to push [Brent] oil to the $60 level…given the market’s persistent sensitivity to bearish news.”

This week’s report from the International Energy Agency  “fits in with a narrative investors were already familiar with: strong demand coupled with declining supplies,” she told MarketWatch. “Since the report was not exactly groundbreaking, it is likely that [Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries] members will have to extend production cuts beyond March 2018 in order to stimulate prices.” The Paris-based IEA Wednesday said global oil supply dropped by 720,000 barrels day last month, largely due to civil unrest in Libya and disruptions to U.S. production due to Hurricane Harvey. A decline in OPEC output also reflected higher compliance with the cartel’s deal with some outside producers, including Russia, to limit output. “Stronger demand and ongoing supply restrictions from the OPEC and Russia” have eased “concerns that the oil cartel’s deal with a number of non-OPEC producers to restrict supply was not working,” said Fawad Razaqzada, analyst at Forex.com, in a Thursday note.

Oil prices settled higher Wednesday, finding support in the wake of the IEA report as traders weighed weekly data from the Energy Information Administration which revealed a smaller-than-expected rise in U.S. crude-oil supplies and a hefty drop in gasoline stockpiles.

The report also showed a jump in crude output as production in the Gulf of Mexico recovered in the wake of disruptions from Hurricane Harvey and refinery capacity activity fell for a second-straight week, which hints at a further back up for crude supplies.