NEW YORK: Oil prices rose on Thursday as more attacks by the Houthis in Saudi Arabia prompted the United States to order some diplomats and family members to leave its missions in the Kingdom.
Brent crude futures rose US$1.29, or 1.2 per cent, to US$110.11 a barrel at 00:34 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude gained 97 cents, or 1 per cent, to US$98.12. Brent had settled largely unchanged on Wednesday, while WTI had eased 67 cents.
The US State Department plans to withdraw family members from a number of other US missions in the region, US officials told Reuters.
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis struck several targets on Wednesday with at least one person killed and eight more wounded at a civilian airport in Dammam, and two people killed in a drone attack on a Saudi oil field.
