Oil rose more than $1 at the futures reopen after reports of explosions in southwest Saudi Arabia, adding a fresh escalation to a market that was already trading sharply higher. According to Fars News Agency, Yemeni ballistic missiles struck the city of Khamis Mushait, while drones targeted Abha airport in Asir province, extending the conflict into Saudi territory for the first time in this latest phase of fighting. Khamis Mushait and Abha lie near Saudi Arabia's southwestern border with Yemen, a corridor that has seen repeated cross-border attacks in earlier rounds of the Yemen conflict.

The Saudi strikes push the conflict into new geographic territory beyond the Iran-US and Hormuz-focused fighting that had already driven Brent up around 8% and WTI nearly 10% last week, adding a new risk premium at the futures reopen. The extension of hostilities to Saudi Arabia gives oil's six-week rally a new front to price in, and it brings the world's largest crude oil exporter directly into the firing line.

The gains build on a rally that had already taken oil to a six-week high, driven by Iran's vow to strike energy infrastructure across the Middle East in response to further US attacks on its assets. Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned on Monday that any strike on Iranian assets would be met in kind, after the US and Iran traded strikes on oil tankers and warships over the weekend in a marked escalation of the conflict that began in late February. Maritime intelligence firm Marisks said commercial tankers are increasingly being used as tools of economic pressure, blurring the line between military and commercial targets.

Brent gained around 8% last week and WTI nearly 10%, as the war continues to erode global supply and force reliance on stockpiles. Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has dropped to its lowest level since May, while US gasoline and distillate inventories remain well below both year-ago and five-year seasonal averages. The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world's most important oil chokepoints, handling roughly a fifth of global petroleum liquids consumption, which is why disruptions there ripple across worldwide freight and insurance costs as well as crude prices. With Hormuz traffic already reduced and US fuel inventories running well below seasonal norms, the market has little spare buffer to absorb further supply disruption. Iran is expected to announce a restricted zone outside the Strait of Hormuz in the coming days.

OPEC+ left its output policy unchanged for October, saying new quotas still need to be agreed before further steps are taken. The decision removes any near-term supply offset, leaving prices reactive to headline risk out of both the Red Sea and Gulf theatres and keeping the bias skewed to the upside.