Brent crude oil surged 10% yesterday after a drone strike on a Saudi Arabian oil facility which resulted in a loss of nearly 6% of the global oil output recorded during the weekend.

Brent crude oil surged 10% yesterday after a drone strike on a Saudi Arabian oil facility which resulted in a loss of nearly 6% of the global oil output recorded during the weekend. According to media reports, the State energy producer Saudi Aramco lost about 5.7m barrels per day of output on Saturday after 10 unmanned aerial vehicles struck the world’s biggest crude-processing facility in Abqaiq and the kingdom’s second-biggest oil field in Khurais.

Brent Oil Price (USD/barrel) (2016 – 16.9.2019)

Source: InterCapital Research, Bloomberg

For oil markets, it was the single worst sudden disruption ever, surpassing the loss of Kuwaiti and Iraqi petroleum supply in August 1990, when Saddam Hussein invaded his neighbor. It also exceeded the loss of Iranian oil output in 1979 during the Islamic Revolution, according to data from the US Department of Energy.