World crude oil prices surged on Friday as Saudi Arabia announced it had arrested a ring of alleged militants plotting airborne attacks on oil facilities and army bases.
The news from the world's biggest oil exporter subsumed weak first-quarter growth data in the US, which showed the economy expanding by its weakest pace in four years.
New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, rose US$1.40 to close at US$66.46 a barrel.
In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for June delivery firmed US$0.76 to settle at US$68.41 a barrel.
"The forces that brought prices to here are extant as the Saudi story reminds us with brutal clarity," Man Financial analyst John Kilduff said.
"When more is known about the level of sophistication, and how close to execution were the militants' plans, it could produce new highs, yet again," he said.
Earlier on Friday Saudi Arabia announced it had seized arms and money and rounded up 172 militants which it said were plotting the attacks.
"Some individuals were training to fly to carry out terrorist attacks ... Some of the cells arrested planned to target oil installations and refineries," interior ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki told reporters.
Five of those detained were linked to a failed attempt to blow up an oil-processing plant, the world's largest, in Abqaiq in the oil-rich Eastern Province in February last year, according to the ministry.
The developments in Saudi Arabia, the kingpin of the OPEC oil cartel, overshadowed the announcement that the US economy grew by just 1.3 percent in the first quarter of this year.
Traders were meanwhile tracking the violent fallout from recent presidential elections in Nigeria, which is Africa's biggest crude oil producer.
Nigeria's current oil production is down an estimated 25 percent owing to violence in the crude-rich Niger Delta.
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