Oil price surge after Saudi terror attacks

Security fears left foreign businesses reconsidering whether to stay in Saudi Arabia, while jittery world oil markets opened today with strong price increases in the first significant trading since a terror attack targeting Western oil workers left 22 people dead in the Saudi oil hub.

Saudi authorities, were still searching for three Islamic militants involved in the shooting rampage and hostage standoff, responding to numerous tips since they fled the Oasis residential compound in Khobar on Sunday morning.

One – said to be the ringleader – was wounded and arrested at the compound.

Brent crude oil prices for July delivery were up $1.82 (€1.48) a barrel, at $38.40 (€31.39)and rising, in today’s trading on the International Petroleum Exchange in London.

Light crude, in after-hours electronic trading in New York, was also up more than $1 (€0.81), to $41.07 (€33.58) per barrel over Friday’s close. Both markets had been closed yesterday for holidays, though some Asian markets had also risen in a reflection of concern.

The attack came ahead of an Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting in Beirut, on Thursday when ministers will debate a possible production increase to try to bring already high-flying prices down.

Unease over the second terror attack in a month targeting oil-related interests in the kingdom also left foreign companies and expatriate workers reevaluating whether to stay.

The last two attacks have been particularly brutal. On May 1, gunmen killed six people at a petrochemical compound in the Western industrial city of Yanbu, and dragged an American victim’s body behind a car through city streets.

The latest attack evolved into a 25-hour siege, with gunmen hunting down non-Muslim foreigners, reportedly mutilating some of their victims.

The US Embassy had urged Americans to leave Saudi Arabia even before the Yanbu attack, which did prompt some departures. Now, the British government is warning more attacks are imminent, perhaps even in the final stages of preparation.

Saudi authorities hunted for the three suspected al-Qaida militants who used hostages as human shields to escape the Oasis compound. The attackers fled to nearby Dammam, where they abandoned their truck for a car commandeered at gunpoint, police said.

In the evening, several police cars surrounded a mosque next to a McDonald’s restaurant in Khobar after police got word suspected terrorists were inside the mosque. A policeman on the scene said two people had been detained on suspicion of terrorist ties.