The major crude benchmarks sit well shy of......>

OIL: The major crude benchmarks sit well shy of best levels, although WTI still

trades ~$6.00 higher on the day, with Brent over $7.50 above settlement levels

on the back of the attack on the major Saudi crude facilities over the weekend.

- Trump has taken to Twitter, as we covered elsewhere:

- Ahead of the crude re-open he tweeted "Based on the attack on Saudi Arabia,

which may have an impact on oil prices, I have authorized the release of oil

from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, if needed, in a to-be-determined amount

sufficient to keep the markets well-supplied." Some have noted that this helped

the space to retrace from extremes, but it is worth remembering that the crude

in the U.S. SPR isn't a like-for-like in terms of quality/grade, when compared

to the Saudi product.

- Elsewhere, Trump noted that "Saudi Arabia oil supply was attacked. There is

reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on

verification, but are waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe

was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!"