Tokyo — Brent crude led oil prices higher, extending gains into a third day after Saudi Arabia suspended crude shipments through a strategic Red Sea shipping lane and as data showed US inventories fell to a three-and-a-half-year low. Brent crude futures had risen 47c, or 0.6%, to $74.40 a barrel by 2.47am GMT, after gaining 0.7% on Wednesday. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 5c at $69.35 a barrel, after climbing more than 1% in the previous session. "The announcement this morning that the Saudis have closed some shipping lanes in the Gulf because of rebel Houthi attacks also gives the bulls something to launch off," said Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at AxiTrader, also pointing to the drop in US inventories. Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, said on Thursday that it was "temporarily halting" all oil shipments through the strategic Red Sea shipping lane of Bab al-Mandeb after an attack on two big oil tankers by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi m...
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