Oil prices rose for the fifth consecutive day early on Thursday, topping $98 per barrel to the highest level in nearly two months, as Houthi attacks on tankers on the Red Sea route intensified concerns about supply from the Middle East. Early on Thursday in Europe, Brent Crude prices passed $98 per barrel, rising by 4.21% to $98.03. The Red Sea oil chokepoint is critical for Saudi crude oil shipments after the Kingdom has managed in recent months to redirect more than 70% of its exports that previously shipped from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea port of Yanbu. According to reports, one of the tankers was loaded with Saudi crude for India and the other was carrying oil to China. “We targeted two Saudi oil tankers, named Encelia and Layla, for their violation of the blockade decision issued by the armed forces,” the Houthi forces spokesman, Yahya Saree, said, as quoted by Al Jazeera.