Oil rises on concerns over Middle East tensions

Oil prices rose as the European market opened today, on fears the tensions in the Middle East, which have mounted after Saudi Arabia presented evidence proving Iran's involvement in the sabotage attacks that hit the oil facilities in Abqaiq, which consequently led the US to tighten its sanctions on Iran.

WTI rose to $58.77 a barrel, from the opening of $58.17, with an intraday low of $58.10.

Brent rose to $64.84 a barrel, from the opening of $63.50, with a high of $63.50.

Yesterday, WTI closed lower by 1%, and Brent futures closed lower by 0.9% as Saudi Arabia confirmed its commitment to its supplies.

Aramco chief executive, Amin Nasser, confirmed that the damaged Abqaiq oil facility is now operating at about 40% of its capacity, and that the full production will be recovered by the end of this month.

Saudi Arabia presented evidence proving Iran's involvement in the sabotage attacks that hit the oil facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais, and said that the attack on its oil facilities was backed by Tehran.

President Trump in return said that he have many options, the least of which is war with Iran, adding that he ordered the US Treasury Department to increase the sanctions on Tehran.

This mounted the fears about the geopolitical tensions in the area, especially about military confrontations, which will disrupt the region's supplies.

Otherwise, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed yesterday that the US oil inventories rose by 1.1 million barrels, to a total of 417.1 million barrels, surpassing forecasts of a drop by 2 million, while the production levels stabilized during last week, with a total of 12.4 million barrels per day, near its all-time high of 12.5 million barrels.