In a sign inflation will persist throughout October, the price of U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude is up nearly 3% today, showing signs of making yet another run at the $100 a barrel chokehold.

Expect no foreseeable relief for gas, diesel and heating oil prices.

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That the Houthis are able to score hits from 500 miles away, despite the Saudi military spending tens of billions of dollars on multi-layered air defense systems, has puzzled experts, The Los Angees Times reported.

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"Hard choices over what to defend will increasingly have to be made: oil infrastructure, ​military installations, royal palaces, civilian airports or other," said SEB commodities analyst Bjarne Schieldrop, Reuters reported.

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Chief executives of major energy companies are a regular fixture at WPC Energy events and had been scheduled to speak on stage this week about global oil and gas markets, energy security and the energy transition, Reuters noted.

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Saudi Arabia ended a longstanding partnership with UAE late last year over its backing of a rival force in Yemen; misjudged Trump’s willingness to back it if it needed support; and struggled to organize disintegrated armed factions fighting the Houthis in Yemen, CNN reported.

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The attack late Thursday was the deadliest in Saudi Arabia since it and allies in Yemen launched a military offensive last week against Iran-backed Houthis -- a significant escalation in the latest front, which has kept oil prices and markets jumpy, AP reported.

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Battles have focused in recent days on areas around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a shipping route that has become more crucial for energy ‌exports since the conflict between the US and Iran restricted trade through the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported.

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The meeting comes after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sought US military ​⁠against the Iran-backed Houthis, but ​Washington declined to launch ​strikes, ⁠though it agreed to supply intelligence and ⁠targeting ​support, sources told Reuters.

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A year ago, Trump and his retinue, with all their trademark hubris and arrogance, celebrated the end of the Houthis in very public ways.

A year later, the Houthis are routing the Saudis and setting the market prices for crude oil and gasoline.

The Atlantic has the details.

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The escalating attacks threaten Saudi Arabia’s ⁠ability to export oil through the Red Sea at a time when the strait of Hormuz is disrupted and the kingdom’s east-west pipeline is only now resuming operations after drone strikes earlier ​this month, The Guardian reported.

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