Oil prices jumped and stock futures fell slightly on Sunday on concerns that energy supplies from the Persian Gulf would be further diminished by a drone attack on a critical pipeline in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi Arabian Energy Ministry said it was closing the pipeline as a precautionary measure, but the shutdown came after reports that the Houthi militia had seized a strategic Red Sea island and a port city, which could further choke shipping in the area. Already, most shipping in the nearby Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, has been halted.
Adding to the uncertainty in the region, a planned meeting between Iran and several Gulf Arab countries it has attacked during the war was indefinitely postponed on Sunday.
Oil prices are up.
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The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, rose to about $108 a barrel, about 3.2 percent, when markets opened on Sunday.
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West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, was up a little under $103 a barrel, about 2.9 percent.
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Investors and analysts are focused on the continued disruption to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that is a vital trading route for oil and natural gas. Before the war as much as one-fifth of the world’s oil supply passed through it.
Stock futures dip slightly.
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Futures on the S&P 500 pointed to a small decline, a little over half a percentage point, when stocks resume trading in the United States on Monday.
Gasoline prices are steady.
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Gas prices held steady over the weekend, at a national average of $4.31 a gallon, according to the AAA motor club. But prices at the pump have risen by about 16 cents a gallon in the last week. Prices for a gallon of regular gas are now nearly 45 percent higher than they were before the war began.
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Gas prices don’t move in lock step with crude, usually trailing increases or drops by a few days.
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The average price of diesel continues to rise. It was $6.20 a gallon on Sunday, up about 65 percent since the start of the war.
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