Houthi advance in Red Sea leads oil past $108/bbl

London|Cairo: Oil prices rose more than 3% on Monday, after new strikes on Saudi Arabian infrastructure and attacks on ships in West Asia, before moderating on US President Donald Trump's remarks on Iran seeking a deal, and Ukraine and Russia agreeing not to hit energy targets.

Brent crude futures were trading up only 1% as of press time, having earlier climbed 4% and hit a session high of $108.65 per barrel.

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels captured more strategic islands in the southern Red Sea, government and Houthi officials said Monday, strengthening their control of a major maritime shipping route. The takeover of Greater and Lesser Hanish is the latest in the rebels' swift advance around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.


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With Saudi's east-west pipeline temporarily out of service, the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea has enough inventory to cover just five to seven days of exports, according to three industry executives.

"The relatively contained price reaction suggests the market still expects Saudi inventories to cushion exports in the near term," said Janiv Shah, oil markets analyst at Rystad. "But if the disruption extends beyond the five to seven-day inventory cushion, that could change quickly."

Arab states in the Gulf called off a meeting with Iran planned for Monday.

The Houthis said they fired dozens of missiles and drones at a Saudi military airbase in Khamis Mushait, near the border, hitting aircraft hangars, radar systems, runways and ammunition depots.