West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery climbed by $2.01, or 2.3%, to settle at $90.72 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange — the highest front-month contract finish since Oct. 6, 2014, according to Dow Jones Market Data. April Brent crude , the global benchmark, added $1.64, or 1.8%, at $91.11 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. That was still a few cents below the Jan. 31 settlement at $91.21, which was the highest since October 2014. The European Central Banks acknowledged that inflation wasn’t transitory, suggesting a strong euro, which put pressure on the U.S. dollar, said Flynn. That contributed to the turn higher in dollar-denominated oil prices.

Meanwhile,  The Wall Street Journal reported that the end is in sight for American’s fracking companies, with many of them having already tapped their best wells. The story suggests that shale oil production could peak, helping to push oil prices back up on Thursday, said Flynn. The move for oil came a day after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies stuck with a plan to boost production by another 400,000 barrels a day in March. Oil prices had been trading lower Thursday before a mid-session turnaround.

On Wednesday, the group of oil producers known as OPEC+ refused to be pressured into raising output faster in March or, perhaps, “were forced to do something they’re unable to do right now,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA, in a note. The group stood by previous commitments, “which leaves us to wonder just how much [oil] they will actually manage to deliver this time,” he said. “The steady approach didn’t generate any fresh optimism for crude, despite rumors beforehand that we could see a larger increase in March, amid political pressure.” OPEC+ has failed to raise output in line with past monthly increases.

Also, several OPEC+ representatives appeared to tie the recent rise in prices to tensions between Russia, a member of the group, and Ukraine. “Pumping more oil onto the market just now will do little to change this in our view,” said Carsten Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank, in a note. “It is more important to be able to supply more oil to the market if need be. And for this to be possible sufficient spare capacities are vital. Yesterday’s decision by OPEC+ makes sense to us, in other words.”

In other energy trading on Nymex, March gasoline rose 1.4% to $2.643 a gallon, while March heating oil added nearly 2.6% to $2.84 a gallon.

West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery edged up by 6 cents, or nearly 0.1%, to settle at $88.26 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The move was enough to score another finish at the highest since October 2014, according to Dow Jones Market Data. April Brent crude the global benchmark, rose 31 cents, or almost 0.4%, at $88.47 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe after trading as high as $90.52. “As global demand for crude oil continues to recover, accelerating in the northern hemisphere during the summer, it is important that OPEC+ meet its production targets to keep the global oil market adequately supplied,” Thummel told MarketWatch. “If OPEC+ is unable to meet production targets, then the global oil market could become undersupplied which means oil prices are likely to move higher.”

The group has resisted pressure from the U.S. and major oil-consuming countries to more aggressively raise output, though some analysts have argued that a rise in crude prices to seven-year highs could prompt fears of demand destruction, warranting a more aggressive output boost. OPEC+ still “believes the global demand recovery is underway,” said Rohan Reddy, research analyst at Global X, noting that OPEC forecasts “robust growth in world oil demand this year, despite expected interest rate hikes and the omicron variant.” Still, OPEC+ has not further increased output as some of its members failed to meet their production targets last month, and given uncertainties surrounding geopolitical tensions involving Russia and Ukraine, said Reddy. U.S. President Joe Biden has directed more U.S. troops to Europe, the Associated Press reported Wednesday , as NATO tensions with Russia over Ukraine intensified. The situation puts some global oil supplies at risk, given that Russia is a major producer of crude oil.

For now, oil demand remains “healthy, and demand destruction from higher prices is likely not a significant concern at this point,” said Stacey Morris, director of research at index provider Alerian. With spare production capacity limited, and some countries struggling to restore production, “supply is likely to remain in focus,” she said. “U.S. producer restraint, driven by capital discipline, also contributes to tighter global oil supplies.” Traders also got an update on U.S. petroleum inventories from the Energy Information Administration. The EIA reported Wednesday that U.S. crude inventories fell by 1 million barrels for the week ended Jan. 28. On average, analysts had forecast an increase of 1.1 million barrels, according to a poll conducted by S&P Global Platts. The American Petroleum Institude on Tuesday reported a 1.6 million-barrel decrease. The EIA also reported a weekly inventory climb of 2.1 million barrels for gasoline, while distillate stockpiles fell by 2.4 million barrels. The S&P Global Platts survey expected a supply climb of 1.7 million barrels for gasoline, but an inventory decline of 1 million barrels for distillates.

On Nymex Wednesday, March gasoline settled at $2.607 a gallon, up 1.2% and March heating oil added 1% to $2.769 a gallon. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Okla., Nymex delivery hub edged down by 1.2 million barrels for the week, EIA data showed. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve saw crude stocks fall by 1.9 million barrels last week.

“Freezing temperatures and snow are expected to settle across parts of the Northeast, Midwest, and South” through the weekend, said Christin Redmond, commodity analyst at Schneider Electric, in a note. “Frigid conditions in Texas though threaten to cause freeze-offs at oil and gas production sites, which could reduce supply again, similar to what occurred in early January this year and February last year.”