Oil rose more than 3% intraday on Thursday as escalating Houthi attacks on Saudi
Arabia, a separate tanker attack in the Persian Gulf and Hurricane Isaias
approaching the U.S. northern Gulf forced wider production shut‑ins. The U.S.
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said by Wednesday morning about 511,619 b/d of
Gulf of Mexico oil production—roughly 25.08% of the region’s current output—was
shut in; eight production platforms and two drilling rigs had been evacuated and
one rig moved out of the storm track. About 16.37% of regional natural gas
output was also shut in. The NHC said Isaias strengthened into a hurricane
Wednesday night and is expected to approach the northern U.S. Gulf Coast on
Friday.
