The benchmark U.S. oil price jumped to a 2015 high on Tuesday on fresh signs that the nation’s production is on the brink of a decline.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said Tuesday that U.S. crude-oil output, which hit a 42-year high in March, would peak in April and May before falling from June to September. The forecast comes a day after analysts at Goldman Sachs predicted peak production would come this month.

These estimates reinforce the view that the boom in U.S. oil output, which helped drive a 50% plunge in oil prices in 2014, will ease this year. That could potentially set the stage for a period of relative price stability, investors and analysts say.

Crude oil for May delivery rose 3.5% to $53.98 a barrel, the highest level since Dec. 30, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures have soared 24% since hitting a six-year low in mid-March..............

.................The question is going to become, ‘Did we really begin to see the tide turning as far as production and demand in the past couple of weeks?’” said Gene McGillian, senior analyst at Tradition Energy. “It seems like the buyers have returned.”

http://www.wsj.com/articles/oil-prices-fall-as-investors-take-profi...