Oil prices jump more than $3 after new strikes on Saudi, Strait of Hormuz

BREAKING: Oil prices jump more than $3 a barrel after new strikes on Saudi Arabia and the Strait of Hormuz.

Oil just jumped more than three dollars a barrel.

The trigger is fresh strikes on Saudi Arabia and on the Strait of Hormuz, and traders didn't wait for details. Crude producers everywhere are watching their screens tonight, and that repricing happened in minutes.

The Strait of Hormuz is the pinch point of the entire oil trade. Roughly a fifth of the world's crude moves through that narrow stretch of water, so any strike there isn't a regional story, it's a global one. And Saudi Arabia is the swing producer, the country markets count on to steady supply when things go wrong. Tonight it's the one taking hits.

Details are still thin, and thin details in an oil shock usually mean the first move isn't the last one. If tankers start rerouting or insurers pull cover, three dollars will look like the opening bid, not the ceiling.

This is Liu Yang, reporting for HIT.