Oil up

London/Singapore

Oil prices rose on Friday as United States crude production was hit harder by Hurricane Harvey than expected, with the even bigger storm Irma heading for Florida and threatening to cause more disruption to the petroleum industry.

U.S. WTI crude futures were at $49.15 barrel at 00606 GMT, 5 cents above their last settlement.

Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the United States, went up 24 cents at $54.73 a barrel, just shy of their Friday peak of $54.79 a barrel, their highest level since April.

"WTI may break higher as storms limit crude processing. United States oil production facilities haven´t fully recovered from Hurricane Harvey," said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at futures brokerage Forex.com.