Oil rises

Singapore : Oil prices rose on Thursday to their highest since the end of 2014 as U.S. crude inventories declined and as top exporter Saudi Arabia pushes for higher prices by continuing to withhold supplies.

Brent crude oil futures rose to as much as $74.02 a barrel, the highest since Nov. 27, 2014, and were at $73.93 per barrel at 0514 GMT, up 45 cents, or 0.6 percent, from their last close.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 38 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $68.85 a barrel.

WTI earlier rose to as much as $68.95, its strongest since Dec. 2, 2014.

"The rally is due to the stock data last night and risk premiums from geopolitical tensions in the Middle East over the last few weeks, but these risk premiums are quite short-lived and investors will likely be normalizing prices lower again as the tensions ease," said OCBC analyst Barnabas Gan.