Oil prices rallied on Monday, after Saudi Arabia has arrested 11 princes and 38 sitting and former ministers and deputy ministers over corruption charges.
The arrest orders were made by a panel Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud formed on Saturday, headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Oil prices surged to their highest level since the summer of 2015, as analysts said the geopolitical risk in the Middle East helped underpin the market.
Meanwhile, a weak dollar also fueled the oil rally on Monday. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.21 percent at 94.742 in late trading.
On the economic front, the number of rigs operating in U.S. oil fields fell by eight to a total of 729 rigs last week, notching the lowest level since May, oilfield service firm Baker Hughes said in its weekly report on Friday.
The West Texas Intermediate for December delivery rose 1.71 U.S. dollars to settle at 57.35 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for January delivery jumped 2.20 dollars to close at 64.27 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
