West Texas Intermediate climbed above $108 a barrel, and the US benchmark has now rallied almost 14% since the close last Wednesday.
The global oil market has been pitched into turmoil by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the US and Europe imposing sanctions on Moscow and crude buyers shunning the country’s cargoes. In the Middle East, Yemen’s Houthi rebels attacked at least six sites across Saudi Arabia late Saturday and early Sunday, including some run by oil giant Saudi Aramco. The Iran-backed group targeted a fuel depot in Jazan in the southwest of the kingdom and a natural gas plant in the Red Sea city of Yanbu.
President Xi Jinping has pledged to reduce the economic impact of strict containment measures, while reiterating a commitment to a Covid-Zero policy. Last week, China reported its first Covid-19 deaths since January 2021 and new infections in Shanghai hit a record.