Diesel prices push to new all-time high as oil prices jump after key Saudi pipeline shut

The price of oil jumped Monday after Saudi Arabia shut a critical pipeline and talks about the future of the Strait of Hormuz were postponed.

The international oil benchmark, Brent crude, rose as high as $108, while U.S. crude oil touched $103 per barrel.

Monday’s jump in prices came after the attacks on the East-West Pipeline, a key route for energy supplies that became even more critical due to the ongoing stalemate in the Strait of Hormuz, where vessel traffic has barely reached double digits in recent days.

Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry said Friday that “the pipeline was shut down as a precautionary measure.” It did not say when the pipeline would be operational again. The attacks came as the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen made sweeping gains that tightened their grip on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, another critical waterway.

Adding to investors’ worries, a meeting between Iran and Gulf countries regarding Hormuz was postponed on Sunday afternoon. That meeting, set for Monday, was delayed “in the interests of consensus,” Oman’s foreign minister wrote on X.

Tehran said the meeting was postponed at the request of Riyadh.

Traffic through Hormuz remain at just a fraction of pre-Iran war levels. On…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business