NEW YORK: Oil prices held near a six-week high on Tuesday after Iranbacked Houthis in Yemen attacked Saudi energy facilities, setting oil installations ablaze and threatening a major expansion of the sixmonth-old Middle East war.
Oil markets, however, pared earlier gains on growing worries that high fuel costs will stoke inflation and force central banks worldwide to raise interest rates, which could reduce economic growth and energy demand.
Brent futures rose 19 cents, or 0.2 per cent, to $97.19 a barrel at 1:52pm EDT (1752 GMT), while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 88 cents, or 1pc, to $92.36. That puts both crude benchmarks on track for their highest closes since July 23.
The Houthis attacked four cities in the south of Saudi Arabia, which is a US ally, on Tuesday, wounding more than 70 people and setting oil installations on fire.
Houthi-controlled media reported later on Tuesday that Saudi warplanes had carried out airstrikes in Yemen’s Jubah district, east of the capital Sanaa, and Taiz province in the southwest.
Oil exports from the Gulf region have been severely impaired since Iran attacked energy infrastructure in the region and ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz following joint strikes from the US and Israel in late February.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s second-biggest crude producer behind the US, has been circumventing the strait by shipping oil west to the Red Sea. But Tuesday’s attacks appear to be among the largest carried out against that nation, and threaten to worsen the war’s global economic effectbydisruptingMiddle East energy supplies beyond the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.-Reuters