Oil jumps $4 a barrel after Houthis claim missile strikes on Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia has not confirmed the attack, and tankers have yet to load at Yanbu despite Aramco's word that flows could resume soon.
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Chart: USO, one-minute prices, three sessions
UpdateThursday, September 24, 2026 at 11:35 AM ET
Jazan, the province the Houthis say they targeted, hosts a Saudi oil refinery with capacity of 400,000 barrels per day, according to NPR, one of the kingdom's largest.
US crude futures are up $4 a barrel on reports that Yemen's Houthis fired missiles at military sites in Jazan, in southern Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has not confirmed the claim. The move follows a warning from Saudi civil defence authorities on Wednesday that attacks were possible in Jazan and Najran.
The rally builds on a session in which US crude settled at $92.16 a barrel on Wednesday, up $1.64, or 1.81%. That followed a sharper slide earlier in the week, when US futures fell more than 1% to $89.60 a barrel on Tuesday and Brent dropped below $100 a barrel for the first time since September 9.
Saudi Aramco has told Asian refiners that loadings at the Yanbu terminal could resume soon, though tankers there have yet to load. Houthi officials have separately warned that any US military backing for Saudi Arabia would draw attacks on American interests across the region.
The price move sits uneasily against the supply picture. Saudi Arabia is restoring pipeline flows and preparing to resume Yanbu loadings this week, Britain is providing defensive air support, and Trump held off on strikes over the weekend. US crude stockpiles jumped 2.969 million barrels last week, far above forecasts, with Cushing supplies up 2.266 million barrels. Houthi attacks on Saudi infrastructure have grown frequent enough that traders have been pricing in resilience rather than disruption, which makes today's jump look more like a technical reaction to headlines than a response to any real change in supply.