Upbeat assessments about the pace of growth for the U.S. economy and a build in momentum for an OPEC production deal pushed oil prices higher early Thursday.

"U.S. economic growth appears to have picked up from its subdued pace earlier this year," U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said in prepared remarks Thursday. "After rising at an annual rate of just 1 percent in the first half of this year, inflation-adjusted gross domestic product is estimated to have increased nearly 3 percent in the third quarter."

Oil prices rallied when Yellen last spoke about soft expansion in September. The price for crude oil has been volatile in recent sessions on competing concerns about the U.S. economy under a President Donald Trump and rumors circulating over the prospects of a coordinated production agreement among members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

A lackluster pace of economic growth, coupled with record production of oil, has kept crude oil prices from rallying much beyond $50 per barrel this year. OPEC leaders are working to coalesce around an agreement to hold output at around 32.5 million barrels and Russia's oil minister said from the sidelines of preliminary talks in Doha that he was optimistic about the potential for some sort of coordinated arrangement.

The price for Brent crude oil was up 1.8 percent from the previous close to open the day at $47.55 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark price for oil, was up 1.9 percent to start trading in New York at $46.45 per barrel.

A research note published Thursday by brokerage firm PVM said the "oil market is on the front foot as bulls take heart" of the latest posturing from OPEC members. Nevertheless, production proposals offered so far would have to come from cuts in output rather than an agreement to hold levels steady.

Elsewhere in the economy, the U.S. Labor Department reports wages for hourly workers are on a steady move upward, with earnings up 0.1 percent from September to October. First-time claims for unemployment for the week ending Nov. 12, meanwhile, declined 19,000 to 235,000. That's the lowest level since 1973.