Saudi attacks: Oil price to spike as production halves [View all]

[nitpicker]

https://www.dw.com/en/top-stories/s-9097

Saudi attacks: Oil price to spike as production halves

Global oil prices are set to rise sharply after Saturday's attacks on two Saudi Arabian oil refineries cut the country's oil production by more than half, energy analysts have predicted.

Iran-backed Houthi rebels, fighting against a Saudi-led coalition in neighboring Yemen, claimed responsibility for "a large-scale operation involving 10 drones" on the Abqaid and Khurais oil facilities, run by the Saudi state-owned oil company, Aramco.

"Any attack on Saudi Arabia is sure to shake oil markets because they currently hold the majority of spare crude production capacity," warned Bernadette Johnson, vice president of market intelligence at energy analysts, Enverus.

She said if the production cut was prolonged, "we should expect to see a big jump in price until the fields return."

The financial channel CNBC cited several energy analysts as saying that oil prices could immediately spike by $5-$10 when markets reopen on Sunday night (US time), while other commentators predicted $100 (€90) a barrel oil. On Friday, Brent crude traded at $60.22 a barrel.

Saturday's attacks caused no casualties but forced a suspension of production at the two plants, where extensive damage was reported from huge explosions triggered by the unmanned aircraft.

The production halt means the world's biggest crude exporter has cut oil output by 5.7 million barrels and gas production by an estimated 2 billion cubic feet (56.6 million cubic meters) per day.
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