Investing.com - Crude oil futures surged on Thursday, on news that Saudi Arabia launched air strikes in Yemen, fuelling concerns over a disruption to supplies from the oil-rich region.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for May delivery hit an intraday peak of $52.48 a barrel, the most since March 6, before trading at $52.13 during European morning hours, up $2.92, or 5.92%.
A day earlier, Nymex oil futures jumped $1.70, or 3.58%, to settle at $49.21 as a broadly weaker U.S. dollar boosted prices.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for May delivery rallied $2.95, or 5.22%, to trade at $59.43 a barrel after touching a session high of $59.76, the strongest level since March 9. On Wednesday, Brent rose $1.37, or 2.49%, to close at $56.48.
Meanwhile, the spread between the Brent and the WTI crude contracts stood at $7.30 a barrel, compared to $7.27 by close of trade on Wednesday.
Global oil prices spiked by more than three dollars early on Thursday after Saudi Arabia and a coalition of Gulf region allies launched air strikes in Yemen to counter Iran-backed Houthi rebels besieging the southern city of Aden.
Oil traders are sensitive to risky geopolitical news involving Saudi Arabia, which has 16% of the world's oil reserves and maintains the world's largest crude oil production capacity.
There are fears that an escalation of hostilities could set off a conflict across the region and send oil prices skyrocketing.
Countries in the Middle East were responsible for nearly 35% of global oil production last year.
Elsewhere, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.5% to 96.59 early on Thursday.
The greenback remained under pressure amid uncertainty over the path of U.S. monetary policy after the Federal Reserve downgraded its forecasts for growth and inflation and lowered its interest rate projections last week.
Data on Wednesday showed that durable goods orders fell 1.4% last month, compared to expectations for a gain of 0.4%.
Orders for core capital goods, a key barometer of private-sector business investment fell 1.4%, the sixth consecutively monthly decline.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release weekly data on initial jobless claims as investors look for more clues over the strength of the economy.