Brent Settles at $113.17 After Houthi Strikes Hit Saudi Oil Sites and an Airport

Brent crude rose 4.0% on Thursday to settle at $113.17 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) gained 2.4% to $99.47. The Nation Thailand tied the rise to supply fears after the Houthi attacks. Prices were little changed on Friday as traders waited for evidence of actual supply losses.

The Houthis claimed recent attacks on the Saudi Red Sea port of Yanbu and deadly strikes on an oil field and an airport inside the kingdom, according to Reuters reporting. Saudi Aramco told staff to evacuate its headquarters in Dhahran. Fighting between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis has escalated since the group advanced toward the Bab el-Mandeb strait at the mouth of the Red Sea.

The location matters more than the scale of the damage so far. Yanbu is the terminal of Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline, the main route the kingdom uses to export crude without passing through the Strait of Hormuz. That route had been functioning well. India's imports of Middle Eastern oil returned to pre-war levels in September as producers and traders increased shipments through Hormuz, Mint reported. Attacks on the Red Sea side now put both export routes out of the Gulf at risk.

The disruption extends past oil. Thousands of Indian pilgrims are stranded in Saudi Arabia because the attacks have disrupted flights, and India's government says it is arranging their return, Deutsche Welle reported. Asian buyers are already moving to secure supply outside the Gulf. Shell, Malaysia's PETRONAS, PetroChina, Mitsubishi and KOGAS approved the second phase of LNG Canada, a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project, which doubles the plant's capacity to 28 million tons a year.