King Fahd hospitalised for tests

Saudi Arabian King Fahd was admitted to hospital Friday night Saudi time with what was described as lung trouble, sending July crude oil futures up on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Nymex July contracts for crude oil reached as high as $52.00 per barrel at one point and closed up 84 cents at $51.85 per barrel.

King Fahd has been given the credit for modernizing the Saudi kingdom as well as with forming strong ties with the United States. The ties between the two countries were made stronger when the king requested American troops to protect Saudi Arabia, the world’s leading exporter of crude oil since 1982, after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

Those connections have deteriorated somewhat since the 9/11 attacks in the US, however, and Saudi Arabia has come in for criticism for tolerating Islamic extremism.

The king, believed to be 85 years old, has handed over the day-to-day running of Saudi affairs to his half-brother, Crown Prince Abdullah. However, key decisions must still be approved by King Fahd.

The only information given about the king’s hospitalization was that he had been admitted for tests.