Yemen Unrest: Brent Crude Price Climbs To $59 Dollars Per Barrel

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Nigeria's Minister of Petroleum
Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum

By Nuel Suji, Abuja.

Barely 24 hours into Saudi Arabia’s military offensive in Yemen, the price of Brent crude oil rose more than four per cent towards 59 dollars a barrel on Thursday, signalling positive sign for OPEC.

Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies began a military operation against the Houthi rebels in Yemen mid-week in a country that is fast descending to civil war.

Analysts said the air strikes against Houthi rebels could stoke concerns about the security of Middle East oil shipments.

Brent futures LCOc1 were up by 2.39 dollars to 58.87 dollars while the U.S. crude CLc1 was up 2.18 dollars to close at 51.39 dollars a barrel, having reached 52.48 dollars earlier in the session.

“Geopolitical risk like this has been on the back burner for a while because we’ve been focusing on global oversupply.

“This news has not made the oversupply go away. The upside potential is limited unless something escalates.

“We need to see how this unfolds over the next couple of days,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank. (Reuters/NAN)