Oil jumps more than 3% on Red Sea tanker attack, reroutings
A Norwegian-owned vessel was attacked in the Red Sea on Monday and oil major BP said it has temporarily paused all transits through the body of water. Other shipping firms said over the weekend that they would avoid the route.
Brent crude futures were up $2.82, or 3.7%, to $79.37 a barrel by 1454 GMT, while U.S.
West Texas Intermediate crude rose $2.44, or 3.4%, to $73.87.
Both crude benchmarks posted small gains last week, following seven weeks of decline, after a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting raised hopes that the U.S.
central bank's interest rate hikes are over and cuts are on the way.
«The rise in geopolitical risk premium, which has come in the form of regular hostilities towards commercial vessels in the Red Sea by Iran-backed Houthi rebels plays its indisputable part in oil's resurrection,» said Tamas Varga, an analyst at oil broker PVM.
About 15% of world shipping traffic transits via the Suez Canal, the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.
Ample oil supply limited price gains on Monday. Brent and U.S.
