Saudi Fire News Oil Swing Shows Supply Vulnerability
This article is for subscribers only.
Oil’s 4.8-percent price swing yesterday on reports of a fire in Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, show the market’s vulnerability to supply disruptions as sanctions hamper sales from Iran.
Brent crude rallied to as much as $128.40 a barrel late yesterday, the highest since July 2008, after Twitter messages, internet blogs and an Iranian state-run news channel reported that an explosion destroyed a pipeline in eastern Saudi Arabia, near the Ras Tanura refinery. The kingdom’s Interior Ministry later denied any sabotage to its oil facilities, and prices declined, sinking further today to as low as $123.90 on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.