Oil rose again on Friday, with Brent crude touching a more than five-month high after Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia stoked concern over further disruption to energy supplies from the Middle East. Brent gained 79 cents, or 0.7 percent, to 113.96 dollars a barrel by 0810 GMT, having earlier reached 114.72 dollars, the highest level since May 4, Reuters reported. US West Texas Intermediate crude gained 1.10 dollars, or 1.1 percent, to 100.57 dollars. An earlier snapshot at 0630 GMT had Brent at 114.47 dollars, up 1.14 percent.
Saudi Aramco on Thursday ordered the evacuation of its headquarters in Dhahran on the Gulf near Bahrain, Reuters reported, as fighting intensified between the world’s largest crude exporter and Yemen-based Houthis. The Houthis claimed responsibility for recent attacks on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port of Yanbu, alongside strikes targeting an oil field and an airport that killed people earlier in the week. UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said the market remains concerned about a potential escalation which, in a worst-case scenario, could trigger renewed supply disruptions, adding that volatile oil flows and elevated freight rates have left the market undersupplied.
A second supply loss landed the same day. In Libya, an oil pipeline valve from the Hamada and Tahara oilfields to Zawiya port has been shut, leading to a reduction in production at both fields, the head of the National Oil Corporation told Reuters on Thursday.
The weekly picture is split by benchmark. Brent is on track for a third consecutive weekly gain, of almost 4 percent, while WTI is poised to finish about 0.8 percent down on the week, Reuters reported, a divergence that reflects where the disruption sits: seaborne crude priced off Brent carries the Gulf risk directly, while US inland crude is cushioned by domestic supply and capped by the prospect of Russian diesel and crude arrangements reaching the US market. Tanker freight rose 11.99 percent in the latest market tables, which corroborates tight shipping even as dry bulk freight fell 4.16 percent.