Oil prices rise to highest level since May on Thursday

Oil prices rose to their highest level since May on Thursday, with Brent crude climbing 3.08 per cent to $112.17 per barrel by 0818 GMT, as Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia heightened concerns over escalating Middle East tensions and disruptions to global supplies.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 2.76 per cent to $99.83 per barrel.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis attacked several targets in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, killing at least one person at a civilian airport in Dammam and two others in a drone strike on an oil field.

Supply concerns were compounded by the shutdown of a pipeline valve linking Libya’s Hamada and Tahara oilfields to Zawiya port, which reduced production at both fields.

Tamas Varga, an analyst at PVM Oil, said attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz and Saudi oil infrastructure were outweighing reports that Middle East crude exports had exceeded pre-conflict levels.

Morgan Stanley analysts estimated that Middle East crude exports reached around 17 million barrels per day last week.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said it had targeted four vessels involved in illegal oil transfers in the northern Gulf and warned that continued US military provocations could trigger a wider response against American bases in the region.

Attribution: Reuters