Brent oil price hits 2-year high as OPEC and Turkey talk down supply

The price of the European benchmark oil blend rose to its highest level since the summer of 2015, amid signs that the worldwide glut of supply may start to dissipate.

Brent crude oil briefly went as high as US $59.49 a barrel after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan threatened to cut off a pipeline that takes 600,000 barrels per day of oil from Iraq through Kurdish territory into a Turkish port.

Erdogan made the comments in reaction to news of the Iraqi Kurdish referendum on Monday, the results of which were expected to show support for independence. "I hope the northern Iraqi administration gathers itself together and abandons this adventure with a dark ending," Erdogan said, adding that the region would not be able to survive without Turkey's support.

"The moment we shut the valve it's finished for them," Erdogan said of the pipeline.

OPEC also recently pledged to cut output by a collective almost two million barrels per day, and there are signs that the notoriously fractured cartel will make good on its pledge this time. Some member nations are actually scaling back production by more than they promised to, OPEC revealed last week.

Brent oil hasn't flirted with the $60 level since July 2015.

The North American oil benchmark was at one point above US $52 a barrel, its highest price since April, before sliding back somewhat.