LONDON: Oil seesawed on Friday as traders closed positions at the end of a week that saw prices rise the most in more than six years.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, was down 57 cents at $52.48 a barrel at 1427 GMT, during a volatile session that saw the contract reach an intraday high of $54.05.

US crude was up 12 cents at $49.55 a barrel, off a two-month high of $50.92 reached earlier in the session.

“Prices are moving on profit-taking before the weekend. There is also a partial holiday in the US on Monday,” Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch said.

Brent traders also eyed news of a small fire at one of Europe’s largest refineries, BP’s Rotterdam facility, which went out quickly after it started.

The momentum had been more bullish earlier in the session after the US central bank’s meeting minutes showed more policymakers than expected had agreed to keep the first interest rate hike in a decade on hold.

Forecaster PIRA Energy Group also issued a bullish oil price prediction on Thursday, saying oil would hit $70 a barrel by the end of next year and trade at $75 in 2017.

In the Middle East, tensions rose in the Syrian conflict.

ANZ lifted its 2016 forecast for US crude by an average of 10 percent, saying it saw a quicker run-down in US crude stocks as a valid reason for the upgrade. It raised its forecast for the third quarter of 2016 to $47 a barrel from $41.

Analysts at Swiss-based consultancy Petromatrix were more cautious on further gains on the commodity.

“Crude can try to stabilize around the $50-per-barrel WTI front anchor but to gain another $10 it will need some support from products and that is not currently the case,” they said.

On Brent, Energy Aspects is forecasting prices to average $68 in 2016 and $98 in 2017, analyst Richard Mallinson told the Platts Asian Crude Oil Summit in Singapore on Friday.

After the July nuclear agreement, Iran will ramp up exports much slower than expected by the market, Mallinson said.

If sanctions are eased, Iran will be able to increase crude exports by 250,000 to 400,000 barrels a day by around mid-2016. After that, significant extra volumes will only come in 2017 or 2018, Mallinson said.