Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
The price of brent crude oil rose to $ 70 a barrel on Monday , supported by ongoing output cuts led by OPEC and Russia , and ignoring a rise in U. S . and Canadian drilling activity that points to higher future output in North America .
Brent sweet crude futures , the international benchmark for oil prices , were at $ 70 per barrel at 0558 GMT , up 13 cents from their last close .
U. S . West Texas Intermediate crude futures were at $ 64 . 53 a barrel , up 23 cents .
Both benchmarks last week reached levels not seen since December 2014 , with Brent touching $ 70 . 05 a barrel and WTI reaching as high as $ 64 . 77 .
ANZ bank said on Monday that oil prices had recently risen on data that continued to show that the market was tightening .
Oil markets had been well supported by production cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries ( OPEC) and Russia which were aimed at propping up crude prices .
The cuts started in January last year and were set to last through 2018 , and coincided with healthy demand growth , pushing up crude prices by more than 13 per cent since early December .
But other factors , including political risk, also supported crude .
“ Tighter fundamentals are (the ) main driver to the rally in prices , but geopolitical risk and currency moves along with speculative money in tandem have exacerbated the move, ” U. S . bank JPMorgan said in a note .
Attracted by tighter supplies and strong consumption , financial investors have raised their net long U. S . crude futures positions , which would profit from higher prices , to a new record , the U. S . Commodity Futures Trading Commission ( CFTC) said on Friday .
U. S . energy companies added 10 oil rigs in the week to Jan . 12 , taking the number to 752 , energy service firm Baker Hughes said on Friday.
That was the biggest increase since June 2017 . ANZ bank said the jump came “ as shale producers quickly reacted to the strong rise in prices in 2018 . ”
The picture was similar in Canada , where energy firms almost doubled the number of rigs drilling for oil last week to 185, the highest level in 10 months.
The high prices for crude , which is the most important feedstock in the petroleum industry , have also crimped profit margins for oil refiners , resulting in a decline in new crude orders .
