Oil Prices Rise Amid Ongoing Middle East Tensions
Oil prices continued their upward trend on Monday as tensions in the Middle East remained high. The Saudi East-West pipeline, which was attacked last week, remains shut down due to catastrophic damage, with repairs expected to take longer than a month.
The outage has left Saudi Arabia on track to exhaust its crude oil stocks available for export within five to seven days, potentially removing around 4 million barrels per day from the global market. US Energy Secretary Chris Wright warned not to bank on a breakthrough over the Strait of Hormuz, saying it's not a safe assumption that Iran and its neighbors will reach a consensual agreement soon.
Gold prices held steady at around $4,340, while the US dollar was slightly stronger. Asian equity markets were mixed, with Japan's Nikkei falling 1% and South Korea's KOSPI declining 2%.