Oil Prices Jump, Saudi Shares Decline on Khashoggi’s Disappearance

• Oil Prices Jump, Saudi Shares Decline on Khashoggi’s Disappearance

Global oil prices jumped on Monday during the Asian trading session as the world’s powers look to Saudi Arabia for answers on the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S. resident and Washington Post columnist.

Brent crude oil gained 1.3 percent to $81.50 per barrel, up from almost three week low of $79.23 recorded on Friday. While the U.S. West Texas Intermediate, WTI, climbed 1.12 percent to $72.14 a barrel.

“The market has again expressed concerns over geopolitical tensions in the Middle East after U.S. and Saudi traded comments over the disappearance of the Saudi journalist, leading to a jump in prices,” Wang Xiao, head of crude research with Guotai Junan Futures, wrote in a research note.

Saudi Arabia has been under pressure since Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Riyadh and a U.S. resident disappeared on October 2 after visiting the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

Saudi Arabia’s shares plunged by 7 percent on Sunday after France, UK, and Germany demanded a “complete and detailed response” on the disappearance of Khashoggi, however, the shares rebounded slightly to close at -3.5 percent, the lowest in almost 10 months.

Company executives like Richard Branson have canceled their plans to attend a Saudi investors conference scheduled for November.

Investors believe with growing media attention, the latest development could undermine the leadership of the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and eventually destabilize the oil-rich kingdom.

This was after U.S. President Donald Trump refused to cancel Saudi’s $110 billion arms order over Khashoggi, saying “the U.S. would be foolish to cancel Saudi arms deal.”

“If they don’t buy it from us, they’re going to buy it from Russia or they’re going to buy it from China. We’re going to be punishing ourselves if we do that,” the president said.

However, Foreign Ministers of Germany, France, and Great Britain issued a joint statement on the disappearance of Khashoggi.

— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) October 14, 2018

“Defending freedom of expression and a free press and ensuring the protection of journalists are key priorities for Germany, the United Kingdom and France,” the three ministers said.

“In this spirit, light must be shed on the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whose family has lost contact with him since October 2.”

Mr Hunt, France’s Jean-Yves Le Drian and Germany’s Heiko Maas said they were treating the incident with “the utmost seriousness”.

“There needs to be a credible investigation to establish the truth about what happened, and – if relevant – to identify those bearing responsibility for the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, and ensure that they are held to account,” they said.”