President Trump said via Twitter Sunday that he has authorized release of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve "if needed" in response to the attacks against Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure.
Why it matters: The statement signals high-level White House concern about the effect of the Saudi production outages on the global market.
The coal mining industry in the top coal-producing region of the U.S. is struggling despite President Trump's efforts to prop up the coal industry nationwide, according to AP.
Why it matters: Many coal producers in the Powder River Basin in northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana are filing for bankruptcy or consolidating as U.S. coal production has slid 30% since peaking in 2008 and small rural communities across the nation face economic uncertainty.
Crude oil prices are expected to surge when Asian markets reopen Sunday night (U.S. time) as traders respond to Saturday's attacks against major oil processing and production sites in Saudi Arabia.
Why it matters: The alleged drone strikes, which took large volumes of production offline, are stark evidence of security risks facing OPEC's largest producer and the world's largest crude oil exporter.
Iran denied Sunday U.S. accusations that it was behind drone attacks targeting the world's largest oil processing facility at Abqaiq and a major oil field at Khurais in Saudi Arabia the previous day.
The latest: Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the early Saturday strikes, AP reports. But U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed Iran, saying "there is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen." Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abbas Mousavi said in a statement the U.S. accusations were "blind, incomprehensible and meaningless."
