Oil rises nearly 5pc

LONDON, Oct 23 (Reuters): Oil prices rose nearly 5 per cent on Thursday after the US imposed sanctions on major Russian suppliers Rosneft and Lukoil over Russia's war in Ukraine, extending gains from the previous session.

Brent crude futures were up $2.99, or 4.8 per cent, at $65.58 a barrel at 1330 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up $2.93, or 5 per cent, at $61.43. Multiple trade sources told Reuters that Chinese state oil majors have suspended purchases of seaborne Russian oil from the two companies, providing a further boost to prices.

However, prices pared some gains after the Kuwaiti oil minister said that the OPEC group would be ready to offset any shortage in the market by rolling back output cuts.