Oil jumps on new Red Sea ship attack

Crude oil rose on December 26 following the latest strike by Yemen’s Houthis on a container ship in the Red Sea and retained the gain when trade began today as well.

On December 26, crude oil booked its biggest gain in over a week, according to Bloomberg, following the news that the Houthis had struck a container vessel owned by MSC and bound for Pakistan, traveling from Saudi Arabia, according to Oil Price.

The attack took place despite the increased military presence of US and UK forces in the area, after the US announced Operation Prosperity Guardian last week. Several other countries including France, Italy, Spain, Norway, and Denmark pulled out of the coalition saying they would not serve under US command but only under NATO command.

Even with this heightened US and UK presence in the Red Sea, MSC said it will continue rerouting its ships that were previously scheduled to pass through the Suez Canal to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.

Meanwhile, Brent topped $80 per barrel, hitting $81 on December 26, while WTI remained around $75 per barrel earlier today. At the time of writing, the benchmarks were trending slightly down. That’s evidence that despite the potential for supply disruption, sentiment on the market appears to be still focused on the balance between supply and demand, leaning towards weaknesses in the latter.

"Despite shutting down shipping channels and re-routing vessels, how far the global supplies are impacted is still debatable," Phillip Nova senior analyst Priyanka Sachdeva told Reuters.

Speaking to Bloomberg, however, Sachdeva said that “Persistent conflict in the Red Sea is propelling a rally. “Thin market depth — owing to the holiday season — is adding further to complexities.”

Bloomberg noted in its report that oil prices remain on track to post their first annual decline for the last three years despite the most recent rebound.