The price of New York crude oil futures rose above 62 dollars on Friday after Iran seized 15 British marines.

Light, sweet crude for May delivery rose 59 cents to 62.28 dollars a barrel. on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude for May delivery added 67 cents at 63.18 dollars a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

The British Ministry of Defense (MOD) said earlier Friday that 15 British naval personnel were seized by Iranian forces.

The incident took place on Friday when the British soldiers were engaged in routine boarding operations of merchant shipping in Iraqi territorial waters in support of UN Security Council Resolution 1723 and the government of Iraq, the MOD said in a statement.

The U.S. Energy Department reported on Wednesday that its gasoline inventories fell by 3.4 million barrels to 210.5 million barrels, as distillate inventories, which include heating oil, fell by 1.7 million barrels to 118.7 million barrels for last week.

Source: Xinhua