Oil prices surge after Saudi air strikes in Yemen

Friday, 27 March 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Brent crude oil shot up nearly 6% on Thursday after Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies began a military operation in Yemen, although importers saw little immediate threat to supplies. The strike against Houthi rebels, who have driven the president from Yemen’s capital Sanaa, could stoke concerns about the security of Middle East oil shipments. Oil prices jumped as traders and importers said they were worried the Saudi attack was a sign that fighting in the oil-rich Middle East was out of control and spreading. Brent futures had risen more than $ 3 a barrel to as high as $ 59.78 a barrel just before 0800 GMT, up almost 6% since their last settlement. US crude was also up more than $ 3 at $ 52.35 a barrel. The risk from the attack in Yemen was heightened because the Houthis have received some support from Iran, Saudi Arabia’s long-time rival for dominance in the Middle East. China’s foreign ministry said on Thursday it was deeply concerned about the worsening situation in Yemen. Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a news conference that China urged all parties to act in accordance with United Nations Security Council resolutions on Yemen, and to resolve the dispute through dialogue. “The Saudis have taken military action because they have said the Houthis are getting support from the Iranians,” said Li Guofu, director of the Centre for Middle East Studies at the China Institute of International Studies. “This is an indication that the war may gradually spread into a regional conflict. This is something the Chinese government is very much concerned about.” Beyond oil, the Middle East is also the world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), from Qatar and also Yemen, but importers said they were not immediately worried. “Gas supply from Yemen has no disruption so far. We are not concerned given the supply surplus and weak demand currently,” said Lee Sang-wook at Korea Gas Corp. Like oil, LNG prices have fallen by more than half in the last 10 months as surging output has been met with slowing economic growth, especially in Asia. With the global crude glut built up from US shale oil and strong output from producers such as Russia, there is little immediate worry about any shortages developing. “Just because Saudi and others conducted air strikes doesn’t mean the oil market becomes suddenly tight,” said Masaki Suematsu, manager of the energy team at brokerage Newedge Japan in Tokyo, although he cautioned that the conflict could spiral further beyond the airstrikes. Some analysts said the strikes could lead to more stability in the region, if it resolved the conflict in Yemen. Asian officials also said the fighting occurred near the Red Sea, waters that Arab Gulf supplies do not pass on their way to Asia. European importers may be more concerned as Arab producers have to ship oil past Yemen’s coastlines via the Gulf of Aden to get to the Suez Canal. The waters between Yemen and Djibouti, at less than 40 km (25 miles) wide, are considered a ‘chokepoint’ to global oil supplies by the US Energy Information Administration and the region is heavily militarised by western navies. The United States and France both operate large military bases in Djibouti, and China also plans to open a base in the strategically well placed but small country in East Africa. NATO’s anti-piracy fleet also operates from the Gulf of Aden.

Iran demands immediate stop to Saudi-led military action in Yemen

Yemenis stand at the site of a Saudi air strike against Huthi rebels near Sanaa Airport on March 26, 2015, which killed at least 13 people – AFP Reuters: Iran’s foreign minister demanded an immediate halt to Saudi-led military operations in Yemen on Thursday (March 26) and said it would make all necessary efforts to control the crisis there. Warplanes from Saudi Arabia and Arab allies on Thursday struck Iran-allied Houthi forces fighting to oust the country’s Western-backed president. “Military action, especially military action from outside Yemen, will bear no result but the bloodshed and massacre of the people of Yemen,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Iranian television, speaking from Lausanne, Switzerland. “It is necessary for all military action to end as soon as possible and for dialogue to resume toward reaching a solution. We believe that these military actions can only plunge the region further into turmoil and will have no benefit for any of the countries who enter into such actions. We have done our utmost to try to limit and control this crisis and will hopefully continue these actions,” he added. A senior Iranian official ruled out military intervention by Tehran. Violence has spread across Yemen since last year, with Houthi militia seizing Sanaa and sidelining U.S. ally President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. It has made Yemen a front in Saudi Arabia’s region-wide rivalry with Shi’ite-dominated Iran. Tehran denies providing money and training to the Shi’ite Houthi militia in Yemen, as alleged by some Western and Yemeni officials. Iran’s Foreign Minister, Zarif, is in the Swiss city of Lausanne, where he is negotiating with six world powers to resolve a years-old dispute over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Negotiations between Iran and six powers in Lausanne are aimed at striking a detailed political understanding by the end of March and reach a full agreement by June 30. Saudi Arabia fears that the atomic deal would leave the door open to Tehran gaining a nuclear weapon, or would ease political pressure on it, giving it more space to back Arab proxies opposed by Riyadh.