Oil prices jumped past the $70 a barrel price level, at the first trading session of the week for the first time since the worst pandemic in human history began, while U.S. crude touched its highest price level in more than two years, on reports of terrorist attacks on Saudi Arabia’s facilities.
At the time of writing, Brent crude futures were up by more than 2%, trading at $70.84 a barrel in early Asian trade, the highest since Jan. 8, 2020, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for April surged by 2.4%, to $67.69, the highest since October 2018.
Stephen Innes, Chief Global Market Strategist at Axi, gave critical insights on why oil prices are hovering high amid the terrorist attacks on OPEC’s leading oil producer’s facilities capable of squeezing supplies momentarily.
“Oil prices have spiked higher this morning after Iran-backed Houthi rebels unleashed a coordinated attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities and military bases.
“With OPEC pursuing a tight oil policy and US shale oil inelastic supply response to higher prices, any disruption to the Middle East supply chain could shoot oil prices considerably higher.
“Indeed, this could be the flashpoint that ignites that smoldering Middle East powder keg as apparent lines in the sand got crossed when the attacks targeted civilians.”
