NEW YORK, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Crude prices rallied on Thursday as tensions in the Middle East posed risks to oil supplies while positive U.S. job data lifted market sentiment.
The tensions between Turkey and Syria intensified on Thursday after Turkey detained on Wednesday a Syrian passenger plane, on suspicion that it carried military equipment from Moscow. Russia expressed its anger, accusing Turkey, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), of endangering Russian lives.
According to reports, Syrian security forces blew up an oil pipeline in the country's eastern province of Deir Ezzor, causing oil leak while adding to concerns about oil transportation in the region, causing fears of oil supplies.
What's more, maintenance in the North Sea field continued leading to oil exports delay, exerting pressure on global oil supplies.
The U.S. Labor Department reported that U.S. initial jobless claims declined sharply by 30,000 last week to 339,000, the lowest level since February 2008. The decline was the biggest one since July.
The latest report, together with the better-than-expected payrolls report in September, fueled hopes for an improving job market in the world's No. 1 oil consumer and lifted market sentiment.
The Energy Information Administration said on Thursday that U.S. crude inventories added 1.7 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 5, due to rising imports and domestic production. However, gasoline and distillates stocks fell in the week, down 0.5 million barrels and 3.2 million barrels respectively.
Light, sweet crude for November delivery added 82 cents, or 0. 90 percent, to settle at 92.07 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude for November delivery gained 1.38 dollars, or 1.21 percent, to close at 115.71 dollars a barrel.
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