Oil prices rose on Thursday as more attacks by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis in Saudi Arabia prompted the United States to order some diplomats and family members to leave its missions in the kingdom, Reuters reported. Brent crude futures rose $1.29, or 1.2 per cent, to $110.11 a barrel at 0034 GMT on Thursday, while US West Texas Intermediate crude gained 97 cents, or 1 per cent, to $98.12. Brent had settled largely unchanged on Wednesday at $108.82, while WTI had eased 67 cents.
The US State Department has ordered some diplomats and family members to depart from its missions in Saudi Arabia and plans to withdraw family members from a number of other US missions in the region, US officials told Reuters.
Yemen's Houthis struck several targets in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation said an attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam killed one resident and injured eight others. In a separate incident, two people were killed in a drone attack on a Saudi oil field, Reuters reported. Awaaz Punjab reported both attacks in its earlier geopolitics coverage on Wednesday.
Explosions were also heard in Sirik in southern Iran on Wednesday, Iranian media reported, saying the nature and origin of the explosions were unknown. On the diplomatic front, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told the Financial Times that Iran was fully prepared to defend itself, and President Masoud Pezeshkian told state media the US could not expect dialogue while blockading and threatening Iran, Reuters reported.
Shipping through the Gulf remains under strain: there have been at least 18 attacks on shipping over the past two weeks, Kpler data showed, while LSEG analysts warned that Iran was targeting tankers well beyond the Strait of Hormuz, reaching into the Gulf of Oman and jeopardising Gulf crude loadings and ship-to-ship transfers that support regional loadings, Reuters reported. Those are the analysts' assessments as reported by Reuters.
For the lakhs of Indian and Punjabi workers living in the Gulf, and for fuel buyers back home, the combination matters twice over: attacks near the airports and oil fields where many of them work, and crude holding above $110 a barrel — yaani, roughly $110 for every barrel (about 159 litres) of crude — which keeps pressure on petrol, diesel and airfare costs across the region.
Sources: Reuters, 'Oil rises as US orders diplomats to leave Saudi Arabia amid escalating tensions' (Oct 22, 0034 GMT reporting), syndicated by 98.5 The River, WDSM 710 and Northland News Radio; Wednesday settlement figures from Reuters reporting carried by Oil Monster.