* WTI settles above $50 first time since July 2015
* U.S. crude stocks likely fell 2.7 mln bbls last week -poll
* Nigeria to talk to rebels to end oil sector attacks
* Coming up: API weekly oil data at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT)
(New throughout, updates prices and market activity to
settlement)
By Barani Krishnan
NEW YORK, June 7 (Reuters) - Oil prices hit 2016 highs on
Tuesday, with U.S. crude settling above $50 a barrel the first
time in almost a year, on expectations of domestic stockpile
draw and worries about global supply shortfalls from attacks on
Nigeria's oil industry.
U.S. crude stockpiles likely fell by 2.7 million barrels
last week to mark a third straight week of declines, an updated
Reuters poll showed. EIA/S
Trade group American Petroleum Institute was expected to
cite a drawdown as well in its inventory report due at 4:30 p.m.
(2030 GMT), before official stockpiles data slated for Wednesday
from the U.S. government.
Crude oil rallied in the past two sessions after rebels in
Nigeria's Niger Delta vowed to halt output in the country,
Africa's biggest producer until last year. The Nigerian
government said it was initiating talks with the
rebels.
"The market remains concerned about unscheduled supply
interruptions with the latest coming from additional shut-ins in
Nigeria," said Dominick Chirichella, senior partner at the
Energy Management Institute in New York.
"With the industry projecting a decline in total U.S. crude
oil stocks in this week's reports, the market bears are
remaining on the sidelines."
U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures CLc1
settled up 67 cents, or 1.4 percent, at $50.36 a barrel. It was
WTI's first settlement above $50 since July 2015. The session
high was $50.53, a peak from October.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 settled up 89 cents, or 1.8
percent, at $51.44. It hit $51.53, also the highest since
October.
Both Brent and WTI have almost doubled in value since
winter, when they hit their lowest since 2003.
Prices bounced off those lows on talk of an OPEC production
freeze, which did not materialize. The rally heightened after
last month's wildfires in Canada's oil sands region and also has
been supported by supply outages elsewhere, including Nigeria,
Venezuela and Libya.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said it expects
crude production declines for 2016 and 2017 to remain unchanged
from a month ago.
Production will fall by 830,000 bpd this year to 8.6 million
bpd, and drop next year by 410,000 bpd to 8.19 million bpd, the
agency said in its short-term energy outlook.
The EIA also raised its 2016 U.S. oil demand growth
forecast.