Oil prices surged on Monday, with Brent crude posting its biggest intra-day percentage gain since the start of the Gulf War in 1991, after an attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities on Saturday shut in the equivalent of 5% of global supply.
Benchmark Brent crude futures rose by as much as 19.5% to $71.95 per barrel. The front-month contract was at $66.20 per barrel, up $5.98, or 9.9%.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures climbed by as much as 15.5% to $63.34 a barrel, the biggest intra-day percentage gain since June 22, 1998. The front-month contract was at $59.73 a barrel, up $4.88, or 8.9%.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he approved the release of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) if needed in a quantity to be determined due to the attack.
Trump also said the United States was “locked and loaded” for a potential response to the attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities.
The Armed Forces spokesman Brigadier Yahya Sare’e in Saturday confirmed that The air force targeted the Abqaiq and Khurais refineries which are affiliated to Aramco in eastern Saudi Arabia.
