Oil Gains Amid Crackdown in Saudi Arabia

Oil prices hit a two-year high Monday on rising tensions in the Middle East following a wave of arrests in Saudi Arabia and a missile attack on Riyadh by Yemeni rebels.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark as up 0.47% to $62.46 a barrel on London's ICE Futures exchange. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate futures were trading up 0.36% at $55.85 a barrel.

Oil prices have gained more than 15% since the beginning of September -- their best two months in over a year. On Thursday, U.S. crude futures rose to $54.54 a barrel, their highest since July 2, 2015, while Brent, the global reference price, broke above $60 last week.

The rise was driven "by the unrest in the Middle East with the missile incident in Yemen but also the reshuffle in Saudi Arabia and the antigraft sweep there," said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB Markets.

Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock -- the benchmark gasoline contract -- fell 0.51% to $1.78 a gallon. ICE gasoil changed hands at $554.00 a metric ton, up$6.75 from the previous settlement.

Write to Neanda Salvaterra at neanda.salvaterra@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 06, 2017 06:02 ET (11:02 GMT)