Oil prices rose nearly 9 percent on Monday after
an attack on two oil facilities in Saudi Arabia halted production of 5.7
million barrels of crude equivalent to five percent of global supplies.
As of 07:57 GMT, Brent crude futures climbed to
$65.70 a barrel after opening at $68.42 a barrel. The highest level was $71.95
a barrel, which is the highest level since January 1991.
Prices opened on an upside gap, but it is
currently trading lower around $65.76 a barrel.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures
jumped as much as 15.5 percent to $63.34 a barrel, the biggest percentage gain
in a day since June 22, 1998.
Saudi Arabia has announced that it will recover
about one-third of its suspended production capacity by today, as the United
States considers using part of its emergency reserves,
Saudi Aramco said the attacks reduced oil
production by about 5.7 million barrels per day, but the giant company did not
provide a specific period for the full resumption of production.
U.S President Donald Trump said he has agreed
to release oil from the U.S. Strategic Oil Reserve (SPR) if necessary, in a
specified amount. He also added that the United States is "locked and
loaded" to respond to a possible attack on Saudi oil facilities.
South Korea said that it would consider
releasing oil from its strategic oil reserves if conditions surrounding crude
oil imports increased in the wake of Saturday's attack on Saudi oil facilities.
Oil prices posted losses of nearly 3 percent in
last week's trading, as global crude demand slowed and the Energy Agency
predicted a surplus in the markets.
The U.S dollar index, which tracks the green currency’s performance
versus a basket of six major currencies, recovered after two consecutive days
of losses to record a 0.02 percent increase at 97.85.
