Oil prices hit six-week high after Houthis attack Saudi sites
XLE•Houthis strike Saudi cities and raise supply concerns
The Houthis attacked four cities in the south of Saudi Arabia, which is a U.S. ally, on Tuesday, wounding more than 70 people and setting oil installations on fire.
Houthi-controlled media reported later on Tuesday that Saudi warplanes had carried out airstrikes in Yemen's Jubah district, east of the capital Sanaa, and Taiz province in the southwest.
Oil exports from the Gulf region have been severely impaired since Iran attacked energy infrastructure in the region and ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz following joint strikes from the U.S. and Israel in late February.
Saudi Arabia, the world's second-biggest crude producer behind the U.S., has been circumventing the strait by shipping oil west to the Red Sea. But Tuesday's attacks appear to be among the largest carried out against that nation, and threaten to worsen the war's global economic effect by disrupting Middle East energy supplies beyond the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.
