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Oil prices hovered near recent highs above $51 a barrel on Thursday, held up by expectations of continuing cold weather in the United States that should boost demand for thinning heating oil inventories.

U.S. crude oil rose 17 cents to $51.34 a barrel, holding near Wednesday's near four-month high of $51.60 ahead of U.S. weekly inventory data.

Prices have soared by about $6 in the past two weeks, fueled by tightening global oil market forecasts this year, fears of an OPEC production cut and colder northern hemisphere weather.