Oil investor T. Boone Pickens believes the price of oil will rise to a range of $55 to $60 a barrel by the end of the year, he said in an interview with Reuters on Monday.

Pickens, who chairs investment firm BP Capital Management, said he does not see crude rising to $100 a barrel, however, because of the size of U.S. reserves.

He is appearing Monday at the Concordia Summit in New York.

Oil prices rose 1 percent on Monday after Venezuela hinted that OPEC members and other major oil producers could agree to a deal to freeze output, and as clashes in Libya disrupted attempts to restart crude exports from key ports.

Oil was also supported by higher equity prices on Wall Street and a weaker dollar that made greenback-denominated commodities, such as crude, more affordable to holders of the euro and other currencies.

Brent crude futures were up 40 cents at $46.17 a barrel by 1:24 p.m. EDT (1724 GMT), reaching as high as $46.93 earlier.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose by 37 cents to $43.40, after a session high at $44.15.

Last week, Brent hit a two-week low of $45.48 a barrel and WTI fell to a five-week low of $42.74 on concerns about oversupply with more deliveries from Libya and Nigeria.

Clashes in Libya on Sunday, however, halted the loading of the first oil cargo from the port of Ras Lanuf.

Oil prices also rose after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other major oil producers were close to reaching a deal on price stability.

Oil producers are to meet on the sidelines of an industry conference in Algeria next week for talks on potentially freezing oil production, ahead of OPEC's all-important policy meeting in November.