Crude oil futures ended lower on Monday on profit booking after moving sharply higher in early trading in reaction to reports of attacks on Saudi Arabian facilities. The initial upward move came as Saudi Arabia said some of the world's most protected oil infrastructure came under missile and drone attack on Sunday in an escalation of regional hostilities, raising concerns about Saudi Arabia's air defenses and the expanding capabilities of the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The official Saudi Press Agency quoted an anonymous official in the Ministry of Energy as saying that a drone flew in from the sea and struck an oil storage site in Ras Tunura, the port run by Saudi Arabia's state oil company, Aramco.
Crude oil futures for April fell $1.04 or about 1.57 percent to settle at $65.05 barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. May Brent crude dropped $1.12 or 1.61 percent to settle at $ 68.24 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.