Oil prices rise as Saudi supply risks come into focus

London (Reuters): Oil prices rose sharply on Thursday, supported by supply risks brought about by last weekend’s drone attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure and a cut in US interest rates.

Brent crude futures gained $1.44 to $65.04 a barrel by 0958 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was up 89 cents at $59 a barrel.

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