Crude oil prices rose on Monday after a drone attack on American forces in Jordan, and the escalation of Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea, fueled fears of supply disruptions.
Brent crude futures rose 21 cents to $83.67 a barrel by 11:17 GMT, and US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 21 cents to $78.22.
The risks of the conflict expanding in the Middle East increased after militants launched a drone attack yesterday, Sunday, on American forces in northeastern Jordan.
Trafigura Primary Commodities Trading Company said that it is evaluating the security risks that may result from the continued passage of ships in the Red Sea after extinguishing a fire that broke out on board a tanker attacked by the Yemeni Houthi group.
“Supply disruptions were limited, but that changed on Friday after an oil tanker working for Trafigura was hit by a missile off the coast of Yemen,” ANZ analysts said in a note.
The rise in oil on Monday comes after it received a blow from the faltering real estate sector in China after a court in Hong Kong ruled, today, to liquidate the giant China Evergrande Real Estate Group, in an indication of the worsening crisis in the real estate sector in the second largest economy in the world, which was reflected in the sentiment of demand for… Crude oil is the world’s largest oil importer.
However, Brent crude oil has risen by 8.7% since the beginning of the year due to the tensions in the Middle East fueled by the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip, while the price of a barrel of American crude oil has increased by 8.9%.
Bloomberg quoted Keshav Lohia, founder of Oilex Consulting, as saying, “The weekend was full of escalation… There is still a big trump card, so what will be the United States’ response?”
Russia is likely to reduce its exports of naphtha, an intermediate material used in the petrochemical industry, by between 127,500 barrels and 136,000 barrels per day, which constitutes about a third of total exports, after operations were disrupted in refineries on the Baltic and Black Seas as a result of fires. According to traders and ship tracking data from the London Stock Exchange Group.
