Oil prices continued to rise on Wednesday as fears of further supply disruptions escalated, after US forces struck Iranian military targets for the eleventh consecutive night, while oil tankers changed course in the Red Sea following warnings from the Iran-aligned Houthi group.

Brent crude futures rose $1, or 1.1%, to $92.01 a barrel by 03:30 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 82 cents, or 1.0%, to $85.16 a barrel.

These gains came after oil settled at its highest level in five weeks on Tuesday, following strikes by US forces on targets in southern and western Iran, while Iran launched attacks on US facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.

The US military said it began its latest strikes on Iran late Tuesday US time, or early Wednesday Iran time. The US strikes came shortly after the Kuwaiti military announced its air defenses had intercepted Iranian drones.

Three oil tankers loaded with Saudi crude oil and heading to China and India changed course in the Red Sea on Tuesday, heading towards the Suez Canal instead of sailing along the Yemeni coast, following warnings from the Houthi group.

Commodity analysts at ING bank said: "This will force oil tankers to enter and exit the Red Sea via the Suez Canal, adding significant time and costs to voyages heading to Asia," noting that tensions in the Black Sea are also increasing uncertainty about supplies.

They added that the Caspian Pipeline Consortium had stopped receiving oil from Kazakhstan after suspending loading operations on Monday, following drone attacks that targeted oil tankers at its Black Sea terminal, blamed on Ukraine, which has not commented on the attacks.

The bank's analysts explained: "The longer the suspension of operations lasts, the greater the likelihood that Kazakhstan will have to reduce its production from oil fields."

In the United States, data from the American Petroleum Institute showed that crude oil and distillate inventories rose last week, while gasoline inventories fell, according to market sources.

This data comes ahead of the release of official US oil inventory figures from the US Energy Information Administration later on Wednesday.