* U.S. crude inventories fall for 3 straight weeks
* But refined product stocks remain high in U.S., Asia
* Many traders see $50-60/bbl oil price as fair value
* Brent forward curve is below $60 until 2021
By Henning Gloystein
SINGAPORE, June 9 (Reuters) - Oil prices remained near 2016
highs in early trading on Thursday, buoyed by a fall in U.S.
crude inventories, a weaker dollar and strong demand, but some
analysts warned that the recent rally was starting to look
overblown.
International Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were trading
at $52.70 per barrel at 0045 GMT, up 19 cents from their last
close.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 was 32 cents
higher at $51.55 a barrel.
Traders said the price rises were largely a result of a drop
in U.S. crude oil inventories.
Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
showed U.S. crude stocks last week fell by 3.23 million barrels
to 532.5 million barrels, marking their third consecutive weekly
fall.
A weaker dollar, down around 2.4 percent this month against
a basket of other currencies .DXY , makes dollar-traded fuel
imports for countries using other currencies cheaper, also
supporting oil prices, traders said.
But some analysts said there were also signs that the recent
oil price rise, which saw Brent rally 6 percent this month and
prices virtually double since February to one-year highs, may be
overblown.
ANZ bank said that price rises were "tempered by an increase
in crude production of 10,000 barrels per day to 8.75 million
barrels per day and the number of active rigs increasing by 9 to
325".
Traders also warned of an ongoing build in refined product
stocks in the United States and Asia.
With fundamentals weighing both for and against higher
prices, many traders and analysts say that a price tag of $50-60
for a barrel of crude was a fair value for oil, reflected in
Brent's forward curve which stays within that range until early
2021.
TAKE A LOOK-Oil glut persists despite tightening market
COLUMN-Oil market is back in balance: Kemp
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