(Reuters) - Oil surged to four-month highs on Monday after weekend attacks on crude facilities in Saudi Arabia sparked supply fears, while shares in Asia extended losses as bleak economic data from China sapped investors' risk appetite.
Governments worldwide may need to follow U.S. President Donald Trump's move to tap emergency oil stockpiles if top exporter Saudi Arabia is unable to quickly repair the damage inflicted by attacks on its energy industry on Saturday.
The attacks on Saudi oil facilities on Saturday will drive up fuel prices worldwide in the world's largest outage in 50 years. Here's what it could mean for consumers.
The long-standing head of Italian infrastructure group Atlantia is ready to step down as a probe into a deadly bridge collapse snowballs, prompting its top shareholder, the Benetton family, to pull support, sources said on Monday. Giovanni Castellucci, who masterminded a multi-billion merger with Spanish rival Abertis last year, will hand in his resignation at an extraordinary board meeting on Tuesday, two sources close to the matter said.
Shares of U.S. energy companies surged on Monday, as a jump in oil prices in the wake of attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities gave new juice to a sector that has been a chronic underperformer.
Oil prices surged on Monday, with Brent crude posting its biggest intra-day percentage gain since the Gulf War in 1991, after an attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities on Saturday shut over 5% of global supply.
Bahrain's national oil and gas authority said on Monday that facilities at Bapco refinery were continuing without impact on the provision of oil derivatives in the local market, state news agency BNA reported.
U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Monday the recent attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities was "unprecedented" and the United States, along with its allies, was working to defend the "international rules-based order that is being undermined by Iran."
Britain will work with its international partners on the "widest and most effective" response to an attack on Saudi Arabia at the weekend, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Monday.
OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP filed for bankruptcy protection after reaching a partial deal to resolve more than 2,600 lawsuits alleging it helped fuel the U.S. opioid crisis.
U.S. crude export demand at the Gulf Coast surged on Monday, traders said, as the window to export crude profitably to Asia and Europe was thrown open after attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities took out 5% of global oil supplies.
Members of the U.S. Congress blasted Iran after the attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities, but expressed wariness about U.S. military action, especially before they have a clearer picture of who was behind it.
Saudi Arabia will invite international experts including from the United Nations to participate in investigating an attack on its oil facilities and called on the world to condemn those behind it, its foreign ministry said on Monday.
An attack on Saudi Arabia that triggered the biggest jump in oil prices in almost 30 years was carried out with Iranian weapons, a Saudi-led coalition said on Monday, as President Donald Trump said the United States was "locked and loaded" to hit back.
Shares of defense companies rise after the United States military is put on alert by President Trump.