Petrol prices are expected jump at least five pence per gallon in the wake of surprise missile attacks on crucial Saudi oil refineries, with further hikes in the pipeline if emergency engineering works cannot contain the threat to global energy supplies. Markets are braced for a spike in the cost of crude tomorrow, and analysts expect the costs of the crisis to be felt at the pumps almost immediately. Ashley Kelty, an oil and gas analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald, said he would expect petrol prices to jump “at least 5p per gallon in the coming days and further hikes to come as news comes out on the longer term impact of the Saudi outage”. Two crucial facilities run by state-owned Saudi Aramco were shut down by missiles launched from drones on Saturday. The loss of the Khurais oil field and nearby Abqaiq oil processing facility, which is one of the largest in the world, has cut the Kingdom’s production capacity by half. The strikes took out about 5.7 million barrels of oil per day of output, equal to around 5% of global supply. Figures released in August suggested Saudi Arabia’s total production stood at just under 10 million barrels per day.
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) has secured an extra week to hammer out a £1.1bn rescue deal, as debt speculators pile pressure on the troubled holiday company. A meeting had been scheduled for Wednesday to agree terms but is set to be pushed back until next week as Thomas Cook battles to survive. The rescue deal needs the support of 75% of creditors to go ahead. Hedge funds are thought to control enough of Thomas Cook’s bonds to block the rescue and are pushing for a default unless their demands are met. Concerns are growing the world’s oldest tour operator could collapse, with hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers facing uncertainty unless it can strike a deal. Regulators at the Civil Aviation Authority are making contingency plans for what would likely be the biggest ever repatriation of British holidaymakers trapped overseas if an agreement cannot be struck.
