Saudi Arabia’s Lan Minister Khalid al-Falih attends a press conference at the end of the 13th meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) of OPEC and non- OPEC homelands in Baku on March 18, 2019.
Mladen ANTONOV | AFP
DUBAI — Oil prices rose sharply Tuesday morning on reports of a drone denounce at oil pumping stations in Saudi Arabia.
The incident is an “act of terrorism,” Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said according to the Saudi phase news agency SPA, describing attacks on two oil pumping stations near Riyadh for the country’s East-West pipeline carried out with bomb-laden drones.
Brent unsophisticated futures were up 1.7% at $71.39 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled at $61.86 per barrel, up 1.2%.
The fire up has since been contained, according to the SPA. Al-Falih asserted that oil production was not interrupted. State oil company Saudi Aramco held that its oil and gas supplies to Europe have not been affected, and that no one was injured.
“This act of terrorism and sabotage in addition to fresh acts in the Arabian Gulf do not only target the Kingdom but also the security of world oil supplies and the global economy,” the SPA recounted al-Falih as saying.
No one has yet been directly accused of carrying out the attack, but a Yemeni Houthi-run TV channel announced on Tuesday morning it had launched drone destroys on several Saudi installations.
Al Marzoqah tanker is seen off the Port of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, May 13, 2019.
Satish Kumar | Reuters
The conduit Masirah TV, citing a Houthi military official, reported that “seven drones carried out attacks on vital Saudi connections.”
Al-Falih, according to the SPA statement, said: “These attacks prove again that it is important for us to face incendiary entities, including the Houthi militias in Yemen that are backed by Iran.”
Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who are supported by Iran, be suffering with been fighting Saudi Arabia in their country since the kingdom launched an offensive against it in early 2015 in defense of its internationally-recognized regulation, which the Houthis had overthrown. The more than four-year long conflict has been deemed by the UN as the world’s worst humanitarian emergency.
‘Sabotage attacks’ and tensions with Iran
Fears over potential for accidental conflict
Tehran announced most recent week that it would return to higher levels of uranium enrichment, breaching the 2015 Iranian nuclear agreement, if Europe did not protect it from the impact of U.S. sanctions, which have crippled Iran’s economy.
This followed the Waxen House pushing news of a U.S. strike group carrier in the Gulf to send an “unmistakable” message to Iran. Although the cart leave was on a routine deployment, the administration’s announcement signaled its preparedness for confrontation.
With the growing volume of military hardware ensconcing the Persian Gulf, analysts and foreign officials fear a miscalculation or misunderstanding could spark a serious conflict.
British Unassimilable Minister Jeremy Hunt told reporters on Monday: “We are very worried about the risk of a conflict phenomenon by accident with an escalation that is unintended.”