OIL prices climbed on Tuesday, with Brent rising above US$106 a barrel, as fresh attacks on Saudi Arabia and the shutdown of its East-West pipeline intensified concerns over global crude supplies.
Brent crude futures rose US$1.24, or 1.18%, to US$106.93 a barrel at 0026 GMT, after gaining 1% in the previous session. US West Texas Intermediate futures rose US$1.29, or 1.24%, to US$102.65 a barrel, following a 1.3% gain on Monday.
Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen launched fresh attacks on Saudi Arabia on Monday, while Gulf Arab states postponed planned discussions with Iran, raising fears that the Middle East conflict could widen and disrupt oil flows.
The Houthis carried out a missile and drone attack on the Khamis Mushait military airbase in southern Saudi Arabia, hitting aircraft hangars, radar systems, runways and ammunition depots in retaliation for Saudi strikes in Yemen.
The attacks followed strikes on Friday that Riyadh blamed on Iranian-backed fighters in Iraq and which disrupted Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline, a key route allowing the kingdom to export oil while bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.
“Oil traders are treating every fresh attack or infrastructure hit as incremental supply risk, while staying highly sensitive to any sign that the East-West pipeline or Hormuz flows could normalise,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade.
Commodity vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell to fewer than 10 transits a day over the weekend, compared with a 10-day average of 14, adding to concerns over a route that carried about one-fifth of global oil supplies before the US-Israeli war on Iran began on February 28.
Saudi Arabia could exhaust oil available for export within days unless operations on the East-West pipeline are restored, according to Saudi buyers and traders. A prolonged outage could potentially remove as much as 4% of global oil supply from the market.
The world's biggest oil exporter has used the pipeline to reroute about 4 million barrels per day, or around 4% of global supply, to Yanbu on the Red Sea.
“The big question for traders right now is the duration of the East-West outage. Any prolonged disruption and the associated supply loss could easily push prices to the next level higher,” Waterer added.
The supply concerns also come as markets prepare for this week’s Federal Reserve policy decision, with the US dollar index rising for a fourth consecutive session on Monday to 99.6, its highest level in about two weeks.
Meanwhile, the US dollar index stood at 99.475 on Monday, up 0.36% from the previous session. It has gained 0.16% over the past month and 2.23% over the past year.
Markets were pricing in an 89% chance of a 25-basis-point Federal Reserve rate increase this week, which would mark the first increase in borrowing costs since 2023. Rising oil prices have added to inflationary pressures and could strengthen the case for further monetary tightening.
The US dollar also strengthened against the Malaysian ringgit, with USD/MYR rising to 4.0718 on September 15, up 0.09% from the previous session. The ringgit has weakened 0.27% over the past month but remains 3.17% stronger over the past year. - September 14, 2026
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