Oil futures settled with a gain of more than 3% on Thursday, with U.S. prices briefly topping the $50-a-barrel level for the first time since July.

Prices found support as Russian military operations in Syria raised the risk of oil-flow disruptions in the region, and minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy meeting implied a further delay in higher interest rates.

November West Texas Intermediate crude CLX25, settled at $49.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up $1.62, or 3.4%, after tapping a high above $50 following the Fed meeting minutes. Prices haven’t settled above $50 since July.

Brent crude UK:LCOX5, the global oil benchmark, rose $1.72, or 3.4%, to $53.05 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange.

“The Fed minutes seemed to inspire some last-minute buying” in oil, said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group. “While the Fed says they believe that the conditions may be in place for a [rate] increase this year, the lack of inflation is causing them some pause.”

Higher interest rates tend to be supportive for the U.S. dollar DXY, -0.01% , which can be a drag on dollar-denominated assets such as oil.

Flynn also said there is speculation that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries could hold an emergency meeting as early as later this month. The market has been plagued by rumors surrounding the potential for special meeting for months.

Meanwhile, Russia escalated its assault on opponents of Bashar al-Assad’s regime with its first naval bombardment on Wednesday. The intervention added to the uncertainty in the Middle East, one of world’s biggest oil-producing regions.

“Very cautious statements by the NATO chief also has the market concerned that Russia will not be restrained in their activities, leaving a stronger likelihood that this military campaign could spread regionally,” said Tim Evans, chief market strategist at Long Leaf Trading Group.

Before the Fed minutes, Tariq Zahir, a managing member at Tyche Capital Advisors, said gains in crude were really due to technical trading.

“We have technically broken out of the range we have been in the last month or so,” he said. On Tuesday, WTI oil prices settled at their highest level in five weeks.

Zahir said oil prices could go higher based on the technicals, but Wednesday’s inventory report was quite bearish—not only because of a bigger build than expected, but also because there was an increase in U.S. production despite a big drop in rig counts, he said.

Back on Nymex, November gasoline US:RBX5 tacked on 1.8 cents, or 1.3%, to $1.408 a gallon and November heating oil US:HOX5 ended up 2.2 cents, or 1.4%, at $1.602 a gallon.

Natural-gas prices, meanwhile, held on to gains after the EIA reported a weekly increase in U.S. natural-gas supplies that was generally within the low end of expectations.

Supplies rose 95 billion cubic feet for the week ended Oct. 2, the report said. Analysts polled by Platts forecast a climb of between 96 billion cubic feet and 100 billion cubic feet.

November natural gas US:NGX15 rose 2.4 cents, or 1%, to $2.498 per million British thermal units.

Georgi Kantchev contributed to this article.