Keine Entspannung in Nahost: Ölpreise legen wieder zu - Gespräche im Oman verschoben

Oil prices have risen again at the start of the week due to the closure of a Saudi Arabian oil pipeline and the cancellation of talks on the Hormuz Strait. The price for a barrel of Brent crude (159 liters) with delivery in November increased on Monday morning by nearly three percent to $107.60 and approached the 110-dollar mark once more.

On Friday, the Brent price had fallen slightly after a sharp increase in the days before, due to hopes for a calming of the Middle East conflict. However, the planned foreign minister's meeting of the Persian Gulf states in Oman does not take place. "In the interest of consensus, the regional meeting planned for tomorrow in Salalah has been postponed," Oman's Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi announced on Sunday evening on the X platform.

According to reports, it was actually planned that Iran and Oman would present an agreement on the long-standing conflict over the Hormuz Strait at the meeting. There had already been further setbacks over the weekend. The Middle East conflict is putting huge pressure on the world's largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia. After the Iranian blockade of the Hormuz Strait and the increasing threat to the Bab al-Mandab strait by the Houthi militia in Yemen, the kingdom must also suspend an important pipeline.

The additional reduction in Saudi exports could cause oil prices to rise further. The east-west pipeline, which can transport large amounts of oil from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea by bypassing the practically blocked Hormuz Strait, has been temporarily shut down after attacks on the pipeline in the regions of Riyadh and Medina.

Since the beginning of the year, Brent crude has risen by almost 80 percent and is currently still well below its war peak in mid-April, which was just over $126 per barrel.