Oil prices rose on Thursday, affected by fears of tight supplies as the European Union considers a possible ban on Russian oil imports that would further tighten the screws on global oil trade.
Brent crude futures rose $1.53 to settle at $108.33 a barrel, following having earlier reached a high of $109.80.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose $1.60, or 1.6 percent, to $103.79, following earlier reaching a high of $105.42.
Buyers also reacted to the ongoing outages in Libya, which loses more than 550,000 barrels per day due to the blockade of major export fields and ports.
Brent rose nearly 8% in the past seven trading days, but the rise came at a slow pace, in contrast to the rally that accompanied the moves in late February when Russia invaded Ukraine and in mid-March as well.
The European Union is still considering a Russian oil embargo, and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen Al-Hamees said the bloc should be careful before a complete ban on Russian energy imports might cause oil prices to rise.
And US crude exports rose to more than 4 million barrels per day last week, which partially compensated for the shortage of Russian crude, which was affected by the sanctions of the United States and European countries.