Oil prices climb as deep freeze shuts U.S. oil wells, curbs refineries

* Cold snap leaves 5 million in Texas, Mexico without power
* Yemen's Houthis say they have struck Saudi airports with
drones
* WHO approves AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 shot for
emergency use

By Jessica Jaganathan
SINGAPORE, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Tuesday as
a cold front shut wells and refineries in Texas, the biggest
crude producing state in the United States, the world's biggest
oil producer.
Prices also gained as Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group said
it struck airports in Saudi Arabia with drones, raising supply
concerns in the world's biggest oil exporter, and on optimism
for a global economic recovery amid accelerated COVID-19 vaccine
rollouts.
Brent crude LCOc1 was up 11 cents, or 0.2%, at $63.41 a
barrel at 0144 GMT, after rising to its highest since January
2020 in the previous session.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures
gained 62 cents, or about 1%, to $60.09 a barrel. WTI did not
settle on Monday because of a U.S. federal holiday. Prices will
settle at the close of trading on Tuesday.
"The unexpected U.S. supply disruption provides another
short term price recovery bridge that has likely taken oil
prices to a level where markets were eventually heading but just
a little bit quicker than expected," Stephen Innes, chief global
markets strategist at Axi said in a note on Tuesday.
The cold weather in the U.S. halted Texas oil wells and
refineries on Monday and forced restrictions on natural gas and
crude pipeline operators.
The rare deep freeze prompted the state's electric power
suppliers to impose rotating blackouts, leaving nearly 3 million
homes and businesses without power.
Texas produces roughly 4.6 million barrels of oil per day
and is home to 31 refineries, the most of any U.S. state,
according to Energy Information Administration data, including
some of the country's largest.
In the Middle East, Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group said
on Monday it had struck Saudi Arabia's Abha and Jeddah airports
with drones.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen said
early on Monday morning it had intercepted and destroyed an
explosive-laden drone fired by the Houthis toward the kingdom.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday listed
AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) AZN.L and Oxford University's COVID-19 vaccine for
emergency use, widening access to the relatively inexpensive
shot in the developing world.