Oil settles above US$50 a barrel for first time since July 2015

The price of oil has settled above US$50 a barrel for the first time in nearly a year.

The July benchmark contract for West Texas Intermediate crude closed at US$50.36, the first time it has settled above the US$50 mark since last July.

Canada’s economy has been hit hard by a rapid and deep decline in global oil prices that began in late 2014.

In February, oil settled as low as US$26.21 a barrel.

Crude prices have gradually risen in recent weeks due to several factors, including the wildfires in Fort McMurray, which at one point may have taken out as much as half of Canada’s total oilsands production, according to some estimates.

Those operations have gradually started to come back online.

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