Oil prices rose in early Monday’s trading after Houthi rebels in Yemen fired missiles targeting the Saudi Arabian oil industry on Sunday. The targets included Saudi Aramco’s facility at Ras Tanura, with its capacity to export almost 6.5 million barrels of oil a day.
No loss of life or significant damage to the facilities was reported by Saudi Arabia but fears of a disruption to supply and production sent oil prices higher.
At the time of writing, Crude oil is up 0.30% with a barrel trading at $66.30. Brent oil is up 0.16% with a barrel trading $69.47.
Meanwhile, according to a report in Reuters, Iran has moved record amounts of crude oil to its top client China over the last few months. Also, according to six industry sources and Refinitiv data, India’s state refiners have added Iranian oil to their annual import plans on the assumption that U.S. sanctions on the OPEC supplier will soon ease,
The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has started contacting potential customers in Asia after Biden took office with the aim of assessing potential demand for its crude oil.
U.S. President Joe Biden is seeking to revive talks with Iran on the nuclear deal abandoned by former President Donald Trump in 2018.
Already boosted by the prospect of increased industrial demand in Europe, crude oil prices are at their highest since October 18th whilst Brent Oil is near to pre-pandemic prices.
Oil Prices had already been supported by the decision by OPEC (The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and its allies not to increase oil supply this coming April.
