Oil Crosses $71 On Saudi Attack

Oil prices jumped above $70 a barrel for the first time in 14
months after Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, said its
energy facilities was attacked on Sunday, targeting “the security
and stability” of global supplies.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose as much as 2.9
per cent to $71.38 a barrel on Monday morning in Asia while West
Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US benchmark, rose by a similar
margin to a high of $67.98 a barrel.

Experts say the development, for Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil
producer, is both good and bad news. Good that more foreign
exchange would be earned by the Federal Government to finance the
budget.

Bad because it’s going to push up the pump price of premium
motor spirit (PMS) in the domestic market.

Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, had
urged Nigerians to brace for a jump in the pump price of petrol
when oil price had risen to $60 per barrel.

The Federal Government and Labour are currently in talks to
avert a backlash which a hike in petrol price would inevitably
result to.

According Financial Times report, a drone attack from the sea on
a petroleum storage tank at Ras Tanura, one of the largest oil
shipping ports in the world, took place on Sunday morning, the
kingdom said.

In the evening, shrapnel from a ballistic missile fell in
Dhahran, where state oil company Saudi Aramco has its headquarters
and near where thousands of employees and their families live.

While Saudi Arabia’s ministry of energy said the attacks “did
not result in any injury or loss of life or property”, and a person
familiar with the matter said no production had been affected, the
attacks have still unsettled oil markets that have rebounded
strongly in recent months.

Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthi fighters claimed responsibility for
the attacks and said they had also focused on military targets in
the Saudi cities of Dammam, Asir and Jazan.

A Houthi military spokesperson said the group had fired 14
bomb-laden drones and eight ballistic missiles in a “wide operation
in the heart of Saudi Arabia”

Oil prices jumped above $70 a barrel for the first time in 14
months after Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, said its
energy facilities was attacked on Sunday, targeting “the security
and stability” of global supplies.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose as much as 2.9
per cent to $71.38 a barrel on Monday morning in Asia while West
Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US benchmark, rose by a similar
margin to a high of $67.98 a barrel.

Experts say the development, for Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil
producer, is both good and bad news. Good that more foreign
exchange would be earned by the Federal Government to finance the
budget.

Bad because it’s going to push up the pump price of premium
motor spirit (PMS) in the domestic market.

Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, had
urged Nigerians to brace for a jump in the pump price of petrol
when oil price had risen to $60 per barrel.

The Federal Government and Labour are currently in talks to
avert a backlash which a hike in petrol price would inevitably
result to.

According Financial Times report, a drone attack from the sea on
a petroleum storage tank at Ras Tanura, one of the largest oil
shipping ports in the world, took place on Sunday morning, the
kingdom said.

In the evening, shrapnel from a ballistic missile fell in
Dhahran, where state oil company Saudi Aramco has its headquarters
and near where thousands of employees and their families live.

While Saudi Arabia’s ministry of energy said the attacks “did
not result in any injury or loss of life or property”, and a person
familiar with the matter said no production had been affected, the
attacks have still unsettled oil markets that have rebounded
strongly in recent months.

Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthi fighters claimed responsibility for
the attacks and said they had also focused on military targets in
the Saudi cities of Dammam, Asir and Jazan.

A Houthi military spokesperson said the group had fired 14
bomb-laden drones and eight ballistic missiles in a “wide operation
in the heart of Saudi Arabia”