Oil prices rose nearly 1% on Thursday, extending big gains from a day earlier, as the market worried about crude supply disruptions and demand concerns were cushioned after a sharp drop in new coronavirus cases at the epicentre of the outbreak. Tensions in Libya that have led to a blockade of its ports and oilfields have shown no signs a resolution, while US sanctions on a subsidiary of Russian state oil major Rosneft <ROSN.MM> to cut Venezuelan crude from the market have helped rekindle global oil supply worries. Brent crude futures rose 45 cents, or 0.8%, to $59.57 a barrel by 0208 GMT. The international benchmark rose 2.4% on Wednesday. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures climbed 49 cents, or 0.9%, to $53.78 per barrel. US crude also closed up 2.4% in the previous session. “The oil market is starting to realize that as bad as the demand destruction is from the coronavirus, the lack of exports from Libya might be meeting the oil demand destruction barrel for barrel,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. “Libya was exporting 1.2 million barrels a day. That is more than the demand destruction estimates of about 400,000 barrels a day to about 1 million a day,” Flynn said. Libya’s internationally recognised leader Fayez al-Serraj dashed hopes of reviving peace negotiations on Wednesday after the Libyan National Army (LNA) of Khalifa Haftar shelled the port of the capital, which is held by al-Serraj’s government.