Oil prices rose on Monday, despite increase of crude oil drilling platforms in the United States, a news agency reported.

Saudi Arabia announced last week it was suspending oil shipments through the Red Sea's Bab al-Mandeb strait after Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis attacked two ships in the waterway.

Saudi Arabia expects its crude exports to drop by roughly 100,000 barrels per day in August as the world’s top oil exporter works to ensure it does not push oil into the market beyond its customers’ needs, the kingdom’s OPEC governor said on Thursday.

Official information published by the Information and eGovernment Authority in Bahrain showed a decline in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and economic growth rate in the first quarter of 2018, compared with the first quarter of 2017.

Bahrain's gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, shrank 1.2 percent from a year earlier in the first quarter of 2018 as oil production sagged, data from the official statistics agency showed on Wednesday.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said regional oil exports may be threatened if the United States tries to pressure its allies to stop buying Iranian crude oil, his website reported on Tuesday.

Oil prices rose on Friday, rallying on concerns that U.S. sanctions against Iran would remove a substantial volume of crude oil from world markets at a time of rising global demand.

Saudi Arabia plans to pump up to 11 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) in July, the highest in its history, up from about 10.8 million bpd in June, an industry source familiar with Saudi oil production plans told Reuters on Tuesday.

Crude futures jumped over 2 percent on Tuesday and U.S. oil topped $70 for the first time in two months as Washington pushed allies to halt imports of Iranian crude, which would constrain global supplies.

The cost of insuring Bahrain’s sovereign debt against default is at an historical high, amid continuing concerns over the country’s ability to tap international markets to stave off a potential financial crisis.

Iran said on Friday a U.S. request for Saudi Arabia to pump more oil so that it could cover a drop in Iranian exports was "crazy and astonishing" and said OPEC would not heed the appeal, setting the stage for a tough OPEC meeting this month.

Iraq and Iran have not yet begun exchanging crude oil, for technical reasons, Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi said on Wednesday, contradicting Iran’s oil ministry news agency.

The International Monetary Fund predicted that the Bahraini economy will grow to $40 billion in 2019 with an estimated annual growth of 3% this year and 2% in gross domestic product next year.

Al-Bilad daily said that Bahrain's oil production reached an average of 197276 barrel per day through 2017, indicating a decrease of 2.4% on terms of production average versus 2016 that recorded 202063 barrels per day.

Oil and gas analysts at BMI Research said that they do not expect Bahrain’s recent discovery of a large oil and gas field to yield a “significant economic windfall” for the country.

Saudi Energy Minister Khaled al-Faleh said Friday the global market has the capacity to absorb higher oil prices, drawing a swift reaction from US President Donald Trump who accused OPEC of inflating prices.

Saudi Arabia has so far refrained from making a formal statement on the huge oil discovery in Bahrain.

The “cost of extraction” should be the secret key to addressing the truth of this discovery. It is the “Achilles heel” of Bahrain which should make us wary of going a long way in applauding it.

Bahrain’s biggest-ever oil discovery couldn’t have come at a more crucial time, but anyone expecting a sudden revival in the country’s financial fortunes is likely to be disappointed.

Oil prices held steady on Thursday, remaining close to highs last reached in late 2014 on tensions over Syria and shrinking global oil inventories.