Crude-oil futures surged in Asian trading hours Monday after Russia seized Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula by force over the weekend, offsetting any impact from weak manufacturing data from China. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in April traded at $103.78 a barrel at 0519 GMT, up $1.19 in the Globex electronic session. April Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $1.62 to $110.69 a barrel. Russia’s parliament authorized President Vladimir Putin to use military force in Ukraine over the weekend, raising fears of an imminent conflict, but analysts say oil and gas supplies from Russia to eastern Europe have not yet been affected. Russia is the second-largest producer of natural gas and third-largest liquid fuels producer in the world, much of it supplied to European countries via Ukraine, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Ukraine is an important transit country for Russian […]