Brent Moves Above $106 After Houthis Claim New Strikes on Saudi Aramco Sites

Brent crude moved above $106 a barrel in early trading on Friday after Yemen's Houthi movement said it had successfully attacked Saudi Aramco facilities, according to Al Jazeera. Saudi Arabia has not confirmed the extent of the damage, and the Houthi claim of success has not been independently verified.

This is the latest in a series of claims this month, and the market has already priced in several earlier rounds of the same conflict. Houthi drone and missile attacks on energy infrastructure in southern Saudi Arabia on September 8 wounded at least 73 people and forced the energy ministry to suspend operations at several sites. A missile aimed at Riyadh and a separate strike on Aramco installations at Yanbu followed on September 19. Prices then fell instead of rising, with Brent dropping to $101.71 on September 21, because Saudi exports kept flowing above four million barrels a day despite the damage. Brent has since traded near $108 as the fighting intensified.

The military response is being organised outside the traditional American security framework. The chiefs of staff of Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan are planning urgent talks on deeper defence coordination as the Yemen fighting widens. The Houthis present the strikes as pressure on Riyadh over its role in Yemen and its alignment with Washington. Saudi officials present them as attacks on civilian energy infrastructure by an Iran-aligned force.

Over the past three weeks, the market has tracked actual export loadings rather than reacting to headlines alone. Each attack raises the price when it is announced, and the price falls back once tanker data shows the oil is still moving. That pricing discipline holds only while Saudi spare capacity and export terminals remain intact.