Oil prices ratcheted up on Thursday on news that Saudi Arabia launched a military operation in neighboring Yemen, however analysts remain skeptical that geopolitical tensions will sustain the rally.
Brent crude oil futures rose almost 6 percent to as high as $59.71 a barrel, before settling around $58.30.
"It's understandable this has stirred up the market a little bit, but at this point it's really just a knee jerk reaction," Victor Shum, vice president, IHS Energy Insight told.
"There's a lot of crude in the market looking for buyers. It's a buyer's market today. Even if Yemen's crude supply is disrupted, there will be no problem for its customers to find alternative supplies," he said.
While Yemen is a relatively small oil producer, it is significant to global energy trade because of its location at the tip of the Arabian Peninsula on the Bab el-Mandab, a strategic shipping lane.
More than 3.4 million barrels of oil per day passed through Bab el-Mandab in 2013.
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