The sun sets behind the chimneys of the Total Grandpuits oil refinery, southeast of Paris, France, March 1, 2021. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
HOUSTON, March 25 (Reuters) - Oil prices turned positive on Friday after reports of a missile strike and a fire at Saudi Arabia's state-run oil company Aramco's facility.
Brent crude rose $1.20, or 0.7%, to $119.92 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up $1.04 , or 0.9%, to $113.34 after both had dropped more than $3 earlier in the session.
Both benchmarks were heading for their first weekly gains in three weeks.
Reuters could not independently verify media reports that said the fire was at an oil depot in the Saudi Arabian Red Sea city of Jeddah.
A huge plume of black smoke was seen rising in Jeddah where oil giant Aramco (2222.SE) has several oil facilities, witnesses said on Friday. read more
Yemen's Houthi military spokesman said it would details on a wide operation "deep" in Saudi Arabia in a tweet, without giving details. read more
Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar Additional reporting by Sonali Paul in Melbourne and Isabel Kua in Singapore Editing by Marguerita Choy and Susan Fenton