Volatile oil prices leapt higher Wednesday, with the US benchmark contract WTI gaining 5 percent owing to an accident in the Suez Canal and mixed US oil stocks data, traders said. West Texas Intermediate quickly eased back to a gain of 4.6 percent at $60.42 a barrel. Meanwhile, the European benchmark, North Sea Brent oil, was 4.6 percent higher at $63.60. bp/ved/rl