High oil prices

Oil prices rose on Thursday as some oil production operations in the United States were disrupted due to cold weather.
By 0004 GMT, Brent crude futures rose 28 cents to $78.16 a barrel, and US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 34 cents to $72.90.

The state of North Dakota said that temperatures that fell below zero caused oil production there to decline by between 650,000 and 700,000 barrels per day, less than half of the usual production. North Dakota is one of the largest oil-producing states in the United States.
US government data on oil inventories is scheduled to be released later today.