Oil prices rise as Saudi supply risks come into focus

LONDON: Oil prices rose sharply on Thursday, supported by supply risks as the market assesses the fallout from last weekend’s drone attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure.

Brent crude futures gained $1.78 to $65.38 a barrel by 1219 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up $1.28 at $59.39 a barrel.

The attacks knocked out around half of Saudi Arabia’s crude production and severely limited the country’s spare capacity, a cushion for oil markets in any unplanned outage.