Houthi strike on Saudi Aramco refinery pushes Brent above $97

Houthi forces struck a Saudi Aramco refinery on Monday, sending Brent crude futures to $97.34 a barrel and WTI to $92.63, as regional pressure on Gulf oil infrastructure continued to mount.

The strike compounds an already constrained picture in the Strait of Hormuz, where vessel transits fell to seven on Monday from eight the previous day, according to shipping data compiled by Kpler. Iraq, which exported roughly 3.4 million barrels per day before the US-Israel war on Iran — between 80 and 85 percent of it through the Strait — has begun formally reorienting its export strategy away from the waterway. Mazhar Muhammad Salih, financial adviser to the Iraqi prime minister, confirmed the pivot to state media, describing alternative pipeline routes as active government policy rather than contingency planning.

Qatar has separately warned of an industrial catastrophe if the regional crisis continues. Baghdad's willingness to name the problem in public marks a shift from managing optics to managing supply.