Oil prices rise amid Russia-Ukraine tensions

The West Texas Intermediate for April delivery added 71 cents to settle at $92.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after hitting a session high of $100.54. Brent crude for April delivery increased $2.24 to close at $99.08 a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange, after touching $105.77 earlier in the session.

Oil prices finished higher on Thursday with both the US crude benchmark and Brent exceeding $100 a barrel in intraday trading, as traders assessed geopolitical tensions over Ukraine.

The West Texas Intermediate for April delivery added 71 cents to settle at $92.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after hitting a session high of $100.54. Brent crude for April delivery increased $2.24 to close at $99.08 a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange, after touching $105.77 earlier in the session.

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Both crude benchmarks hit their highest intraday level since 2014, Xinhua news agency reported.

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The oil rally came as the tensions between Russia and Ukraine have escalated into a military conflict overnight.

Russian President Vladimir Putin authorised on Thursday "a special military operation" in Donbas, and Ukraine confirmed that military targets across the country were under attack.

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Market participants feared that the escalating Russia-Ukraine tensions would disrupt energy supplies, experts noted.

Traders also parsed newly-released weekly US fuel inventory data.

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US crude oil stockpiles increased by 4.5 million barrels during the week ending February 18, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Thursday. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts had forecast the US crude inventories to show a fall of 0.3 million barrels.

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According to the EIA, total motor gasoline inventories and distillate fuel inventories both decreased by 0.6 million barrels last week.

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