Oil rises amid growing tensions between Saudis and Iran-backed Houthis

Crude oil prices rose Wednesday as investors digested the International Energy Agency’s latest monthly report on the shape of the oil market.

Brent crude futuresthe international benchmark, added 37 cents to close at $106.06 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate advanced 95 cents to settle at $95.09 a barrel.

The IEA’s October Oil Market Report, published Wednesday, warned that constraints on diesel markets could continue well into 2027, with fresh attacks on Saudi Arabia threatening to derail a recovery on the supply side of the global oil market.

Fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthis continues to escalate, with the Saudi Ministry of Energy saying Wednesday that an administrative building belonging to oil giant Saudi Aramco had been attacked overnight. No injuries were reported at the site in Dhahran, a city on Saudi Arabia’s eastern coast.

It follows a series of Houthi attacks on the Saudi capital Riyadh over the past week, including a fatal strike on the city’s international airport.

According to Al Jazeera, Houthi energy terminals and fuel reserves in Yemen were struck by a Saudi-led coalition, though a spokesperson said that precautions were taken to avoid “collateral damage on civilians.”

Tensions also continued to simmer between the U.S. and Iran.

U.S. Central Command rejected claims by the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy that the Strait of Hormuz is under Iran’s control and that any approaching U.S. Navy warships would be “sunk.”

“RGC’s navy commander has no navy,” CENTCOM said in an X postadding that “American forces and regional partners clearly control the Strait of Hormuz.”

Oil may rally another $20-$25 due to the Iran conflict, hedge fund manager and noted commodity trader Paul Tudor Jones said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

“I am long oil… bullish oil…I think it can rally another $20 or $25 bucks,” said the founder and chief investment officer of Tudor Investment.

“If something to ameliorate the situation was going to happen, it would have happened already before the midterms,” he added.