Brent crude futures price rose above $70 per barrel on Monday, the first time Brent has risen above $70 per barrel since the Covid-19 pandemic began. Similarly, the U.S. crude, Western Texas Intermediate (WTI) touched its highest in more than two years, following reports of attacks on Saudi Arabian facilities.
Brent crude futures sold as high as $71.36 per barrel at one point in early trade on Monday, the highest since January 8, 2020.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude traded at $67.98, the highest since October 2018.
Yemen’s Houthi forces fired drones and missiles at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry on Sunday, including a Saudi Aramco (SE:2222) facility at Ras Tanura vital to petroleum exports, in what Riyadh called a failed assault on global energy security according to Reuters.
At the time of this report Brent is trading at $69.51 per barrel while WTI is trading at $66.25 per barrel.
Nigerian Bonny Light traded at $67.39 per barrel.
Brent and WTI prices are up for the fourth consecutive session after OPEC and its allies decided to keep production cuts largely unchanged in April.
Barely a year ago, oil prices reached an 18-year low of USD19.33pb in April 2020, fueling the decision for the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and its alliance (OPEC+) to cut back on the supply of crude oil to the market. Accordingly, oil production dipped by 3.7mbpd to average 25.6mbpd in 2020.
“We could see further upside in the market in the near-term, particularly as the market probably now needs to be pricing in some sort of risk premium, with these attacks picking up in frequency,” ING analysts said in a report, noting that this was the second attack this month following an incident in Jeddah on March 4.
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
