Oil headed for its longest stretch of daily gains in more than 17 months as the U.S. Federal Reserve sought to ease investor concerns, China moved to stimulate its economy and OPEC production cutbacks took effect.

Oil started 2019 with another price slide as weaker Chinese manufacturing data pointed to slowing demand in the world’s second-biggest consumer of the fuel and to growing risks of a global crude surplus.

Job growth in the Lone Star State will likely weaken in the first half of 2019 if oil prices remain at current levels, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Oil was boosted to near $52 a barrel by a weak U.S. dollar while investors weighed if OPEC and its allies can successfully re-balance the market.

Oil extended an advance after a U.S. industry report signaled a bigger-than-expected draw in nationwide crude inventories and as trade tensions eased between the world’s largest economies.

The U.S. government left its forecast for domestic crude production unchanged for 2019 even with prices averaging almost $11 a barrel lower than its previous estimate.

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port is pushing out the most crude it’s shipped in any one month since the terminal began supertanker exports in February.

America turned into a net oil exporter the week of Nov. 26, breaking 75 years of continued dependence on foreign oil and marking a pivotal — even if likely brief — moment toward what President Donald Trump has branded as “energy independence.”

BAGHDAD — Iraq began piping oil from its fields around the disputed city of Kirkuk on Nov. 16, more than a year after exports were halted over troubles with the autonomous Kurdish administration north of the country.

Oil traded near a six-month low as the prospects of a tight global market at the end of the year further receded after the U.S. softened the restart of sanctions against Iran.