Major oil companies, such as Exxonmobil and Saudi Aramco, have slashed investments on new projects.
Four decades of mistrust between Tehran and Washington isn’t likely to end soon. But it can be managed if mutual diplomacy prevails.
As well as maintaining opulent lifestyles, the Saudi monarchy has been pumping its extensive wealth into fuelling the Middle East's wars.
Prices may decline more gradually after Saudi Arabia sent a signal that a production cut deal may be ahead, and the US has said it will put pressure on Saudi Arabia and its allies for such a deal.
The sources, from oil majors and refiners which process crude in Europe, said Saudi state oil company Aramco told them it would supply all requested additional volumes in April.
A drop in oil prices is a good sign for consumers, but current economic conditions and the coronavirus pandemic makes it difficult to see who stands to benefit.
Moscow says it's open to renewing cooperation with OPEC after oil giants and non-OPEC members failed to agree on production cuts leading to Saudi announcement it would increase oil output.
While many of Beijing's white collar workers returned to work as new cases of infection subsided in China, some 16 million people under a widespread lockdown in northern Italy struggled to figure out the new rules of their daily existence.
The Houthi rebels did not specify when the strikes were carried out and neither Aramco nor the Saudi-led coalition backing the Yemeni government immediately responded to requests for confirmation.
Aramco initially raised a $25.6 billion, which was itself a record level, in its December IPO by selling 3 billion shares at 32 riyals ($8.53) a share.
Contrary to the Houthi claim, UN investigators suggest their evidence has increased the possibility that it was Tehran that launched the attack using long-range and sophisticated weaponry.
Prices of oil jump on concerns that Iran might respond to the killing of its top general Qasem Soleimani by the United States by disrupting global supplies of energy from the Mideast.
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