The price of international crude oil futures rose significantly on the evening of July, driven by the news of the attack on a storage facility in Saudi Arabia, a big oil producing country, and broke through the $70 per barrel round level in the day, a record in more than a year. Market analysts believe that the latest rise in international oil prices is not only related to the escalation of tensions in the Middle East, but also the market expectations of a sustained recovery in global demand for crude oil to provide essential support for oil prices.

According to media reports, the attack took place in Saudi Aramco, where most of its production and export facilities are located. In September 2019, two facilities of Saudi Aramco were attacked by Houthi armed missiles, resulting in the interruption of Saudi Crude oil production.

The incident led to the price of London Brent crude oil for delivery in May breaking the $70 per barrel mark, a new high since January last year. The U.S. crude oil market was also affected. The price of light crude oil for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange once rose to more than $67 a barrel, a new high since October 2018.

Analysts believe that in addition to the attack on Saudi oil facilities, China's foreign trade data for the first two months of this year released recently and the US Senate's US $1.9 trillion economic rescue plan have strengthened the market's expectation of global oil demand growth, which is also an important factor in supporting the oil price to break through the US $70 per barrel mark.