Oil Price Jumps To Nearly 65 Dollars A Barrel

Oil prices surged to their highest levels since the summer of 2015 on Tuesday as a major political shakeup in Saudi Arabia underpinned a rally fueled by geopolitical risk, analysts said.

Crude futures hit the new highs overnight after the powerful Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Selmane coordinated the arrest of several princes and ministers, ostensibly as part of a crackdown on corruption.

Prices pulled back in morning trade as the market digested a wealth of analysis on the Saudi purge, but futures suddenly shot higher at midday. 

International benchmark Brent crude oil has hiked to nearly $65 a barrel for the first time since June 2015. 

Meanwhile, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude broke above $57, a level the market has not seen since July 2015.

WTI finished Monday’s session $1.71 or 3.1 percent, higher at $57.35. Brent was trading up $2.04, or 3.3 percent, at $64.11 by 2:27 p.m.

According to Reuters, Brent crude hit $ 64.08 at 10 am GMT on Monday, closing at 3.5 percent on Monday, marking the biggest percentage increase in nearly six weeks.

As a recall, Opec member countries, Russia and several other producers have cut production by about 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) since the start of 2017, helping oil prices rise by about 15% in the past three months.

At a recent Opec meeting, several countries said output curbs were having the desired impact on the market and price.

The Kuwaiti oil minister said to this effect that the cuts had reduced global crude stocks to their five-year average, which is Opec’s main target.