LONDON—Oil prices rose on Thursday on a surprise drop in U.S. crude stockpiles and a halt in exports from Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

Brent crude futures rose 40 cents, or 0.51 percent, to $78.68 a barrel at 0926 GMT, while West Texas Intermediate crude rose 52 cents, or 0.71 percent, to $73.49 a barrel.

U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell unexpectedly in the week to March 24 to a two-year low, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.

The 7.5 million-barrel drop in crude inventories compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 100,000-barrel rise.

Further support came as exports from Iraq’s northern region remain halted.

Producers have shut in or reduced output at several oilfields in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq following a halt to the northern export pipeline, with more outages on the horizon, company statements showed.

But the Kurdistan-Iraq premium in oil prices could vanish sooner than expected, analysts from Citi said Thursday.

The “changes in Iraq’s domestic politics may lead to a durable political settlement very soon,” said Citi, estimating that pipeline flows could grow by some 200,000 barrels per day (bpd).

Looking ahead, markets will be keeping an eye on U.S. spending and inflation data due on Friday and the resulting impact on the value of the U.S. dollar.