Oil prices surged as rumours abound on social media over the health of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah.
The Saudi ruler is currently battling pneumonia in a hospital in Riyadh. Prince Salman, the kingdom's defence minister and heir apparent, delivered the king's speech yesterday at the Shura Council prompting renewed concern about the ailing monarch and the possibility of instability in the country if there was a disputed succession.
In early trading on Wednesday oil prices had been taking another battering, with Brent crude hitting its lowest level since May 2009. This morning it dropped below $50 for the first time in six years.
Yet at around 4am ET the price of US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude leapt from $47 a barrel to over $48.5 a barrel, while Brent crude re-crossed the $5o a barrel mark:
FinVizWTI crude oil.
Some blamed the commodity's flash rally on a Twitter account purporting to be Saud al Faisal, Saudi's foreign minister. A tweet from the account, which had garnered over 2000 followers, claimed that King Abdullah had passed away prompting a flurry of activity on the social network.
A number of users questioned whether the account was genuine, suggesting that it had the hallmarks of notorious Italian prankster Tomasso De Benedetti. Their suspicions were proven correct:
Breaking: Reports of the the death of Saudi king are greatly exaggerated - @SaudalFaisalKSA account is a hoax #KSA pic.twitter.com/mB9qdUkxsQ
- Farrukh Naeem (@farrukhnaeem) January 7, 2015
At the time of writing the oil price was once again slipping, suggesting the recent rout may not yet be over. WTI has fallen back to aroun $48 a barrel.
If De Benedetti is indeed partly responsible for the spike, however, it may prove to be one of his most effective hoaxes yet. As once observer joked:
Di Benedetti went too far this time RT @macrokurd: OIL en fuego on unconfirmed reports King of Saudi Arabia has died. pic.twitter.com/pnPoqqymVp
- Lorcan Roche Kelly (@LorcanRK) January 7, 2015