Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
An attack on a facility operated by Saudi Aramco by Yemen’s Houthi group on Friday caused the price of crude oil to rise, with the Brent crude oil gaining $1.62 or 1.36 per cent to settle at $120.65 per barrel.
Reports showed that Houthi rebels launched a barrage of missiles on Saudi Arabia on Friday morning, hitting the oil firm’s facility in Jeddah. It was also reported that drone missiles were fired by the Houthis in the early hours of Friday, while three others were intercepted.
“The hostile attempts deliberately target civilian infrastructure and energy installations, and the continuation of the Houthis’ hostilities threatens regional and international security,” the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said.
The Iran-backed Houthis claimed they were behind the strike with a military spokesperson adding that they had also used drones to hit the Ras Tanura and Rabigh refineries in the kingdom, according to Reuters. The additional strikes could not be confirmed.
The attack would be the second in the space of a week as authorities confirmed an attack on Aramco facilities last weekend, with Houthi rebels using missiles and drones to target at least six sites across the kingdom, including an Aramco fuel depot and a liquefied natural gas plant.
The Houthis have carried out thousands of cross-border missile and drone attacks into Saudi Arabia in the years since the kingdom launched its aerial assault on Yemen, which has killed tens of thousands of Yemenis.
It was observed that the tension created by this development pushed the price of the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures higher by $1.56 or 1.39 per cent to $113.90 per barrel.
Already, the administration of Mr Joe Biden of the US is considering another release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) that, if carried out, could be bigger than the sale of 30 million barrels earlier this month.
Oil prices were also pressured as exports from Kazakhstan’s CPC crude terminal partially resumed and the European Union held off on imposing an embargo on Russian energy as members remained split on the issue.
