LONDON, Nov 10: Oil prices steadied on Monday as a rally prompted by a suicide bombing in Saudi Arabia which killed at least 17 people eventually ran out of steam.

The price of Brent North Sea crude oil for December delivery dropped three cents to $28.88 per barrel.

New York’s reference light sweet crude December contract fell nine cents to $30.76 per barrel in early deals.

Prices initially rose when markets opened following the explosion late Saturday which devastated a housing compound in Riyadh. Later the market saw “a bit of a retracement on the back of profit taking”, said Fimat analyst Mark Head, while warning that it remained “in a bull mood”.

Other analysts stressed that terrorism in the world’s biggest crude producer was a real concern.—AFP