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BEIJING: Oil prices jumped more than two percent on Monday, after new Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia and Iranian attacks on ships in the Gulf compounded supply concerns following the closure of a key Saudi oil pipeline.<\/p>\n
Brent crude futures rose $2.90, or 2.77 percent, to $107.51 per barrel as of 2313 GMT. WTI futures rose $2.27, or 2.27 percent, to $102.32 per barrel. Prices had initially risen more than \u200c3 percent at market \u200copen.<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabian state media on Sunday released \u200bvideo \u200cfootage of \u2060damage to \u200bhomes \u2060and a mosque from what it said was a Houthi attack on the country\u2019s southern Jazan province. The Houthis said they had also struck a Saudi military base in a neighboring province.<\/p>\n
A vessel in the Strait of Hormuz was struck by a projectile, causing a fire and forcing the crew to be evacuated, the British maritime security agency UKMTO said on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Iran said one person was killed \u2060and four crew wounded aboard an Iranian commercial vessel struck \u200coff its coast.<\/p>\n
Oil prices had been \u200cexpected to rise on Monday amid growing concerns about \u200brisks to supply from Saudi Arabia, \u200cthe world\u2019s largest oil exporter, whose East-West oil pipeline was shut on Friday \u200cby a drone strike that originated in Iraq.<\/p>\n
The loss of the pipeline, which helped Saudi Arabia re-route its exports avoiding the Strait of Hormuz, threatens up to 4 percent of global oil supply.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Yemen\u2019s Iran-aligned Houthis had reached the strategic island of Perim on \u200cFriday, moving to tighten their control over the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, another key oil transit lane that has been shipping \u20604-5 percent of \u2060global supply in recent months.<\/p>\n
Oil surged 8 percent higher on the week due to the disruptions, rising above $100 for the first time since July.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking ahead, unless this week\u2019s talks in Oman produce something operational \u2014 or the East-West pipeline is brought back online quickly \u2014 the risk is that crude oil continues to extend its gains toward the $119.48 high of early March,\u201d IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said in a note on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said on X later on Sunday, however, that a scheduled Monday meeting in Oman between Gulf countries and Iran to discuss the Strait of Hormuz had been postponed.<\/p>\n
No peace talks \u200bhave been held in the \u200bwar, launched six months ago by the United States and Israel, since an interim agreement in June collapsed after a few weeks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n