The attack on Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil facilities led to oil prices surging by up to 20 percent—the most significant intraday jump in almost 30 years.
Aramco has confirmed a loss of nearly 6 million barrels of oil a day. And as a result, consumers in the United States are expected to suffer from the attack. An attack the administration strongly believes was carried out by Iran on Sept. 16.
“I think that’s eventually gonna translate to higher retail prices in that 10 to 20 cent area,” said Chief Oil Analyst Denton Cinquegrana of the Oil Price Information Center (OPIS) in an interview with NTD News. “But again, you’re probably not gonna see that tonight or tomorrow … as we get later in the week, you’ll start to see prices really move higher.”
President Trump responded to the possible consequences on Twitter on the day of the attack: “I have authorized the release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve if needed in a to-be-determined amount sufficient to keep the markets well-supplied.”
The administration firmly believes that Iran is behind the attack. Meanwhile, the Middle Eastern country has dismissed the allegations.
Cinquegrana explained that the administration is taking a measured approach to the situation, rather than jumping straight into a retaliatory attack.
“I guess the big question is, ‘how long is the Saudi infrastructure gonna be down?” said the analyst. “Is it gonna be measured in days, or is this gonna be measured in weeks and months? That’s the big question right now.”
Whether it’s from the U.S. or Saudi Arabia, Cinquegrana said there may be retaliation.
