It is very tough to predict the future. At best, analysts and pundits can offer their most educated guesses on what they think might happen.

Crude prices edged up this week, with both WTI and Brent rising nearly 1% to close around $54 and $57 per barrel, respectively. That rally followed a 9% surge in December propelled by OPEC’s decision to cut production starting in 2017.

OPEC’s crude production fell by 310,000 barrels a day in December, as unplanned disruptions in Nigeria reduced the group’s supply before deliberate cuts take effect this month. Nigeria’s daily output dropped by 200,000 barrels to 1.45 million in December, ending three months of gains as the African nation struggled to restore capacity after a year of militant attacks on oil infrastructure.

Libya is re-opening its last major oil-export terminal that was shut amid fighting that hobbled output in the country with Africa’s largest crude reserves. The Zawiya terminal is preparing to resume exports after the pipeline supplying it was re-opened, an official at the state-run National Oil Corp. said, asking not to be identified for lack of authorization to speak to news media.

Americans may spend $52 billion more to fill their cars this year as OPEC output cuts boost oil prices and state tax hikes take a bigger bite, according to GasBuddy Organization Inc. The national yearly average will rise to $2.49 a gallon from $2.13 in 2016, analysts at GasBuddy, which tracks retail prices and availability,said in a 2017 outlook. The jump more than reverses the $39 billion decline last year.

Oil rose on Wednesday, with top exporter Saudi Arabia expected to increase prices for its crude as part of planned supply cuts, although a strong dollar and moderate economic growth prospects restricted gains. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were trading at $52.50 per barrel at 0747 GMT, up 17 cents from the last settlement.

Oil prices turned negative after earlier hitting 18-month highs on Tuesday, the first trading day of 2017, as the U.S. dollar rallied to its highest since 2002. Traders said crude prices were buoyed earlier in the day by hopes that a deal between OPEC and other big oil exporters to cut production, which kicked in on Sunday, will drain a global supply glut.

S&P 500 futures were up 0.83%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 0.79%, and Nasdaq futures rose 0.86%. U.S. markets followed Asian markets higher after Chinese manufacturing activity expanded for the sixth consecutive month.

Oil prices edged down on Wednesday as the market waits to see how OPEC and non-OPEC members carry through on planned supply cuts in the new year. International Brent crude futures were trading down 7 cents, or 0.12 percent, at $56.02 a barrel at 0722 GMT after closing the previous session up 93 cents.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude futures have gained 45 percent so far this year as OPEC engineered the first global output cut in 15 years. The U.S. Oil Fund LP, an ETF designed to track oil prices that has seen investors pour in nearly $3 billion in the past two years, only grew 6.6 percent over the same period.

Oil extended the longest winning streak in more than four months before OPEC and other producing nations start reducing output to stabilize the market. Futures advanced 0.4 percent in New York, climbing for a seventh session.

Oil prices meandered along for most of the week, basically ending where they began. That said, there was still plenty of optimism in the oil market to go around, which drove several oil-related stocks up by double digits this week.

Call it a pre-Christmas lottery ticket, but someone in the oil market has been busy making a bold bet, buying contracts that will be profitable if oil surges again to $100 a barrel. The $100 December 2018 call option — a contract that gives the right to buy Dec. 2018 futures at $100 per barrel — was the most traded contract on Tuesday across the whole ICE Brent market, the latest sign of resurgent optimism in oil.

Call it a pre-Christmas lottery ticket, but someone in the oil market has been busy making a bold bet, buying contracts that will be profitable if oil surges again to $100 a barrel. The $100 December 2018 call option — a contract that gives the right to buy Dec. 2018 futures at $100 per barrel — was the most traded contract on Tuesday across the whole ICE Brent market, the latest sign of resurgent optimism in oil.

Oil settled near $52 a barrel as investors eyed the potential return of crude supply from Libya and awaited signs of output cuts in January after the deal among OPEC and non-OPEC nations to reduce a global glut. Futures rose 0.4 percent in New York after fluctuating between gains and losses during the session amid light volume.

Oil prices rose on Monday as a weaker dollar and the delay of new Libyan oil exports boosted benchmarks, amid expectations of tighter crude supply going into 2017. Analysts said the increases, which built on gains of around 2 percent on Friday, were driven by a delay in crude oil supplies from Libya.

Oil extended its gains above $52 a barrel as a planned production boost from Libya stalled amid continuing tension in the OPEC member exempt from agreed output cuts. Futures climbed as much as 1.2 percent in New York after rising 2 percent on Friday.

Libyan oil-facility guards prevented two of the country’s biggest fields from resuming production, days after the National Oil Corp. reached an agreement to restart operations there to boost output in the politically divided OPEC state. The El Feel, or Elephant, and Sharara fields still aren’t operational after they were shut more than a year and a half ago, an NOC official said Sunday by phone, asking not to be identified for lack of authorization to speak to news media.

Libyan oil-facility guards prevented two of the country’s biggest fields from resuming production, days after the National Oil Corp. reached an agreement to restart operations there to boost output in the politically divided OPEC state. The El Feel, or Elephant, and Sharara fields still aren’t operational after they were shut more than a year and a half ago, an NOC official said Sunday by phone, asking not to be identified for lack of authorization to speak to news media.