Oil Prices Reach Six-Week High

Oil prices rose to a six-week high on Tuesday after Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen attacked Saudi energy facilities, setting oil installations ablaze and threatening a major expansion of the six-month-old Middle East war.

Brent crude futures rose 70 cents, or 0.7%, to $97.70 a barrel at 10:56 a.m. EDT (1456 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $1.21, or 1.3%, to $92.69. That puts Brent on track for its highest close since July 23 and WTI on track for its highest close since June 4.

The Houthis attacked four cities in the south of U.S.-ally Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, wounding more than 70 people. Houthi-controlled media reported later on Tuesday that Saudi warplanes had carried out four airstrikes in Yemen's Jubah district east of the capital Sanaa.

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. The attacks on Saudi Arabia, however, appear to be among the