Oil Prices Rise Over $1 as Houthi Attacks Stoke Supply Fears

By Adedapo Adesanya

Oil prices rose more than $1 a barrel ‌on Thursday after more Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia stoked concerns over a broader escalation of conflict and further disruptions to supplies from the Middle East, with Brent crude up by $1.93 or 1.77 per cent to $110.75 a barrel, and US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude up by $1.43 or 1.47 per cent to $98.58 per barrel.

Reuters reported that Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis struck several targets on Wednesday, with at least one person ​killed and eight more wounded at a civilian airport in Dammam, and two people killed in a drone attack on a Saudi oil field.

Also, explosions were heard in Sirik in southern Iran.

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran was ready to defend itself and suggested the chances of a peace deal are slim, while its president, Mr Masoud Pezeshkian, told the media that peace talks could not proceed while the US had a blockade on Iran and issued threats against the country.

The US State Department plans to withdraw family members from a number of other ​US missions in the region.

Government agencies in Riyadh have told employees to work from home, and the Future Investment Initiative conference, due from October 26-29, has been postponed to 2027.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said on Thursday that four vessels involved in illegal oil transfers in the northern ​Persian Gulf were simultaneously hit and caught fire after being tracked by its forces on Wednesday.

The IRGC added that three more vessels collided with ‌mines ⁠west of the Strait of Hormuz, and warned the US military that continued provocations could lead to a wider response against its regional bases.

Supply disruption continued to impact global inventories.

US crude stocks fell by 3.06 million barrels to 412.5 million barrels last week, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.

The Trump administration is offering to loan up to nearly a ​third of the 1-million-barrel US emergency heating oil reserve, the Department of Energy said on ​Wednesday, seeking to ⁠contain prices that have surged on diesel shortages due to the wars in Iran and Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg on Wednesday for talks on ending the war in Ukraine.

The Kremlin said President Putin had ​agreed to resume US-mediated peace talks with Ukraine as soon as next month. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he supported the talks and hoped they would start ​as soon as possible.