Will gas prices go up after Saudi attack? Experts say yes.

Dalvin Brown, USA TODAY
Updated

Drone strikes on two major oil facilities in Saudi Arabia Saturday could impact the price of gas in the coming weeks, experts say.

Gradual increases may be seen at U.S. gas stations before next weekend depending on how fast the kingdom's state-owned oil behemoth Saudi Aramco can revive lost output, said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.

"Right now, I would classify that impact as being minor because Saudi has signaled that most of this oil production could return quickly," said DeHaan, whose company monitors real-time fuel prices. "If it doesn't return relatively quickly then we could be looking at minor to major impact to gasoline prices" as early as midweek.

By some estimates, the price per barrel could rise $5 to $10, which translates into 10- to 24-cent increases for gas, diesel and jet fuel, according to Tom Kloza, an analyst at the Oil Price Information Service.

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"The question is, does the increase continue to grow and gain steam through the next few months or does Aramco make crude available through some other extraordinary means," Kloza said.

This Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019, satellite image provided by NASA Worldview shows fires following Yemen's Houthi rebels claiming a drone attack on two major oil installations in eastern Saudi Arabia. The drones attacked the world's largest oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia and a major oilfield operated by Saudi Aramco early Saturday, sparking a huge fire at a processor crucial to global energy supplies. The island shown in the image is Bahrain, while the peninsula in the image is Qatar.