Brent crude climbed toward $100 a barrel on Tuesday, its highest level in six weeks, after Yemen's Houthi movement struck southern Saudi Arabia and set oil installations ablaze. WTI crude rose in tandem as the widening Middle East conflict pushed traders toward caution.
Saudi attack marks a new escalation
Yemen's Tehran-backed Houthis attacked four cities in the south of Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, wounding more than 70 people and setting oil installations ablaze, in what appeared to be a major expansion of the six-month-old Middle East war. The strike hit a close U.S. ally, a country central to the region's crude oil supply. It came the same day flaring Middle East hostilities pushed oil to its highest level in six weeks.
Brent nears the $100 threshold
The escalation pushed Brent crude futures close to $100 a barrel, a six-week high, while WTI crude rose about 2% in the same session.
A month-long climb built on supply risk
Brent had already rallied this month but stayed below $100 a barrel, even as the U.S.-Iran conflict disrupted Gulf exports through the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea. Tuesday's attack marked the latest turn in that same conflict, part of the flaring hostilities behind oil's six-week high.
Source: Economy News (Investing.com)
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