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🇰🇷 South Korea /Energy & Infrastructure

Houthi Strikes on Saudi Oil Facilities Push Oil Near $100, Highest in Seven Weeks

From Hankyoreh · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia injured 73 people and struck an Aramco oil complex in Jizan, although initial reports said major damage was avoided.
  • Reduced tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has raised fears of a larger supply disruption as fighting continues across two major Middle East oil routes.
  • Brent crude briefly reached $98.45 a barrel, while Goldman Sachs said expanded attacks on ships could push prices as high as $120.

Oil prices are nearing $100 a barrel as fighting spreads across Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz slows. Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement attacked several cities in southwestern Saudi Arabia, including Abha, Jizan and Najran.

Saudi Arabia's state oil company Aramco reported an attack on its oil complex in Jizan on the previous day. Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, said the facility suffered no major damage. Saudi-led coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki said 73 civilians were injured in what he called indiscriminate Houthi attacks on civilian and economic sites.

The terrorist Houthi militias' indiscriminate attacks, especially their recent attacks targeting civilian and economic facilities, injured 73 civilians.

· Turki al-MalikiThe Saudi-led coalition spokesman described the casualties from the Houthi attacks.

Fighting between the coalition and the Houthis has continued along the Yemen-Saudi western Red Sea coast since the beginning of the month. The Houthis are trying to move toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the passage linking the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, while coalition forces have reinforced their positions to keep oil export routes open. Nearly 200 people were killed on both sides in clashes from the 3rd to the 5th.

The coalition will take all operational measures to contain them and firmly confront hostile acts.

· Turki al-MalikiHe warned of a response to the attacks.

The Strait of Hormuz is also under pressure after renewed U.S.-Iran airstrikes. Iranian official Mohsen Rezaei said Iran had tested a new anti-ship missile against a U.S. warship in the Gulf of Oman and would soon announce a controlled zone outside the strait. The United States said the waterway remained open and under its control, and that it had cleared Iranian mines.

Ship-tracking company Kpler recorded an average of 10 bulk carriers a day passing through the strait over the past 10 days, the lowest level since May. Only eight ships crossed on the 6th and seven on the 7th, after U.S. strikes on three Iranian tankers. Brent crude briefly rose 1.45% to $98.45 a barrel, its highest level in seven weeks. West Texas Intermediate rose 2.6% to $93.91. Analyst Priyanka Sachdeva said a visible slowdown in tanker traffic could lead markets to price in a much larger supply shock.

If tanker traffic begins to slow noticeably, the market could price in a much larger supply shock. There are already signs that this is happening.

· Priyanka SachdevaThe analyst assessed the effect of falling tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
About this summary

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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