Singapore — Oil prices rose on Thursday to their highest since the end of 2014, as US crude inventories declined and as top exporter Saudi Arabia pushes for higher prices by continuing to withhold supplies. Brent crude oil futures rose to as much as $74.02 a barrel, the highest since November 27 2014, and were at $73.93 a barrel at 5.14am GMT, up 45c or 0.6% from their last close. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 38c or 0.6% at $68.85 a barrel. WTI earlier rose to as much as $68.95, its strongest since December 2 2014. "The rally is due to the stock data last night and risk premiums from geopolitical tensions in the Middle East over the last few weeks, but these risk premiums are quite short-lived and investors will likely be normalising prices lower again as the tensions ease," said OCBC analyst Barnabas Gan. "I think oil prices are a little elevated in the short term and we would need to have clear signs for improvement in fundamentals." Gan said the market w...
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