Oil prices rose Thursday as traders focused on falling U.S. oil supplies. Light, sweet crude for November delivery settled up 43 cents, or 1%, at $44.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after wavering between gains and losses throughout the session. Brent, the global benchmark, rose 42 cents, or 0.9%, to $48.17 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. On Thursday, data provider Genscape Inc. told clients that crude supplies in Cushing, Okla., fell by more than 500,000 barrels in the week ended Tuesday, according to a market participant who viewed the data. The report came one day after the Energy Information Administration said that crude-oil stockpiles in the U.S. fell more than expected last week. Investors have been focused on signs that the glut of oil in the U.S. is shrinking. Oil companies sharply cut back on new drilling in the past year in response to the […]