Oil jumps more than 4% after the two tankers attack in Arabian Gulf

Global oil prices extended their gains with the opening of the US market on Thursday, so far up by more than 4%, offsetting yesterday's losses and rising even more, on its way to achieve the first gain in the last four days, especially after a sabotage attack of two major oil tankers in the Arabian Gulf near the coast of Iran.

By 12:00 GMT, US crude rose more than 4% to $53.40 per barrel from the opening of $51.04, and recorded a high of $53.62, with the lowest level at $50.59.

Brent rose also by more than 4% to $62.40 per barrel from the opening level of $59.95, and recorded a high of $62.65, and a low of $59.76.

Yesterday, US crude fell by 3.6% and Brent fell 3.7%, their third consecutive daily loss, on expectations of weak global oil demand in 2019.

Associated Press agency said that two large explosions target tankers in the Gulf of Oman near the Iranian coast on Thursday morning, while the official Iranian news agency "IRNA" reported that the two tankers were loaded with crude oil coming from gulf countries.

The Royal Navy's Maritime Trade Operations Center said on Thursday it is aware of a cargo incident in the Gulf of Oman near the Iranian coast.

The incident renewed concerns about supply disruptions from the Middle East, where attacks on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf increased as the United States tightened sanctions on Iran.

The US Energy Agency announced yesterday that the country's trade inventories rose by 2.2 million barrels in the week ending June 7, the second weekly increase in a row, contrary to experts' expectations of a decline by about 1 million barrels.

According to the data, total US commercial inventories rose to 485.8 million barrels, the highest level since July 2017, in a negative sign of demand levels in the world's largest oil consumer.

For the US oil production, it fell by about 100 thousand barrels per day last week, the first weekly decline in a month, bringing the total to 12.3 million barrels per day, leaving its record level of 12.4 million barrels per day.