Oil prices fall 1% on hopes of limited supply disruptions

Oil prices fell about 1%, extending losses for a third session, but stayed above $100 on Friday, as hopes of alternate ways for barrels from the Middle East to reach markets outweighed concerns about strikes between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Houthis.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 fell $1.01, or 1%, to $103.77 a barrel by 0020 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate CLc1 futures fell $1.03, or 1%, to $100.88 a barrel. Both benchmarks had closed down about 1% on Thursday.

Markets largely shrugged off concerns about new threats to supplies even as Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis exchanged fresh strikes across their border on Thursday, expanding the Middle East war front.

Oil prices had climbed to around four-month highs this week as sources said crude loadings at Saudi Arabia's Red Sea export hub of Yanbu had been suspended and Riyadh had cancelled some deliveries to Europe after its East-West pipeline was damaged in an attack last week.