EL7.AI
CommoditiesMedium•20 October 2026•
4 min read

Brent settles at $108.79 after hitting 5-month high

Key Facts

1Brent futures settled at $108.79 a barrel, down 76 cents, or 0.69%.
2Brent reached $111.99 a barrel during the session, marking a 5-month high.
3The most actively traded December U.S. crude futures settled at $97.82 a barrel.
4The Energy Information Administration estimated disrupted Middle East oil production at about 4.8 million barrels a day in September, compared with 5.8 million in August.

Brent futures settled lower at $108.79 a barrel on Tuesday, October 20, after reaching $111.99 during the session, the highest level in 5 months, according to Reuters. The settlement marked a decline of 76 cents, or 0.69%, as the market weighed Middle East supply risks against diplomatic developments. In the U.S. market, December crude futures settled at $97.82 a barrel. Those contracts were the most actively traded during Tuesday's session, the agency reported. Trading in the November U.S. crude contract expired the same day.

Brent's decline followed a settlement of $109.55 a barrel in the immediately preceding session, down 31 cents, or 0.3%, according to Reuters. Futures had ended the previous Friday's session at $109.86 a barrel. They gained $3.94, or 3.7%, in that session before retreating over the following two sessions. Over the week ended October 16, Brent gained 4.9%. U.S. crude posted a larger weekly increase of 10.4%, according to the agency's Friday update.

On regional risks, the Houthis said they had targeted the Shaybah oilfield and Saudi Aramco facilities in Yanbu on the Red Sea as part of Monday's strikes, according to ABC News. Saudi authorities did not immediately confirm the claims, according to Reuters, which could not independently verify them. The network also reported that the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations issued an alert on Tuesday after receiving a report of an incident involving a tanker and military forces off Oman. On the diplomatic front, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian discussed mediation efforts and regional developments with Pakistani army chief Asim Munir in Tehran. Reuters cited Nournews for details of the talks, which the market weighed against attack risks.

These developments come against a backdrop of disrupted Middle East oil production that the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimated at about 4.8 million barrels a day in September. Disrupted production had reached about 5.8 million barrels a day in August, according to the agency's October report. Yanbu is important to export routes, with the agency estimating that Saudi Arabia's East–West pipeline carried exports of more than 5.0 million barrels a day through it before the September attacks. The route allows oil exports to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. The agency linked higher crude transportation costs to tanker transit risks, rising insurance costs and longer routes to avoid conflict zones.

The Energy Information Administration identified "tightness in the diesel market" as an additional factor supporting crude prices. It said the tightness was increasing refiners' demand for oil to meet fuel needs. On the supply side, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Tuesday that the United States was pushing to restart shuttered domestic refineries. Efforts to increase supply also include a development involving Russian energy, with U.S. President Donald Trump signing an executive order on the matter the previous Friday, according to Reuters. The order provides exemptions from some sanctions and tariffs linked to Russian energy exports, counterbalancing regional supply concerns.

As a backdrop to prices, spot Brent averaged $114 a barrel in September, according to the Energy Information Administration's October report. That average was $23 a barrel above its August level. The agency forecast that spot Brent would average $105 a barrel in the final quarter of the year. That estimate was based on forecast model inputs completed on October 1, before the latest developments. The projected final-quarter average was therefore below the average recorded in September.

Attention next turns to U.S. inventories, after a Reuters poll published on Tuesday pointed to an expected decline in crude stocks of about 800,000 barrels. The estimate covers the week ended October 16. The Energy Information Administration usually publishes its weekly inventory report on Wednesday. The agency set its usual release time at 10:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time. That will be followed by the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on October 27–28, according to the U.S. central bank's official calendar.