Oil Prices Rise as Saudi Energy Minister Reports Drone Attack on Pipeline

Oil prices jumped Tuesday morning on reports of a drone attack on oil pumping stations in Saudi Arabia, with the kingdom regarding the incident as a terrorist act.

The incident is an “act of terrorism,” Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said, according to the Saudi state news agency SPA, when describing the attacks on two oil pumping stations near Riyadh carried out with bomb-laden drones.

Brent crude futures were up 1.7% at $71.39 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled at $61.86 per barrel, up 1.2%.

The fire after attack was contained, SPA reported. Al-Falih said that oil production was not interrupted, while state oil company Saudi Aramco also confirmed that its oil and gas supplies to Europe have not been affected, and that there had been no injuries.

“This act of terrorism and sabotage in addition to recent acts in the Arabian Gulf do not only target the Kingdom but also the security of world oil supplies and the global economy,” al-Falih said, cited by CNBC.

No one has been directly accused of carrying out the attack yet or taken responsibility, however a Yemeni Houthi-run TV channel cited by CNBC announced on Tuesday morning that it had launched drone attacks on several Saudi installations. Yemen’s Houthis and Saudi Arabia have been involved in a more than four-year-long conflict that has resulted in what the UN deems as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.