Oil price rose following Saudi attack
Crude oil price on Monday jumped to over $70 per barrel indicating a first time rise since 2019 due to attacks on energy giant Aramco in Saudi-Arabia.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose as much as 2.9 percent to $71.38 a barrel in Asia while West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US benchmark, rose by a similar margin to a high of $67.98 a barrel.
Brent oil price had hit over $69 a barrel on Friday on the back of the decision taken by non-members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) to roll over output cuts in April.
Nigeria’s 2021 approved budget oil prices benchmark is $40 a barrel and 1.86 million barrels a day of crude production therefore this oil pricing rising above record level could mean more income for Nigeria to finance its budget.
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The nation reports that according to a Financial Times report, a drone attack from the sea on a petroleum storage tank at Ras Tanura, one of the largest oil shipping ports in the world, took place on Sunday morning, the kingdom said.
READ ALSO: Crude Oil or Nothing: The sad tale of Nigeria’s non-oil sector
In the evening, shrapnel from a ballistic missile fell in Dhahran, where state oil company Saudi Aramco has its headquarters and near where thousands of employees and their families live.
While Saudi Arabia’s ministry of energy said the attacks “did not result in any injury or loss of life or property”, and a person familiar with the matter said no production had been affected, the attacks have still unsettled oil markets that have rebounded strongly in recent months.
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Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthi fighters claimed responsibility for the attacks and said they had also focused on military targets in the Saudi cities of Dammam, Asir, and Jazan.
A Houthi military spokesperson said the group had fired 14 bomb-laden drones and eight ballistic missiles in a “wide operation in the heart of Saudi Arabia”