Brent closes at $108.82 as Shaybah operations continue after attempted attack
Key Facts
Brent crude closed at $108.82 a barrel on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, according to EL7 data, as operations continued at Saudi Arabia's Shaybah field after an attempted attack on one of its plants. Saudi air defenses intercepted a drone on Wednesday morning that was attempting to target the plant, according to Asharq News. A fire broke out in a vehicle belonging to a contractor working at the field, and Asharq said the incident occurred "outside the plant's perimeter, with no impact on operations." A Nepali and a Filipino were killed in the incident, according to the Saudi Energy Ministry, cited by the Associated Press. The ministry also reported that a Pakistani and an Indian were injured.
Shaybah has total production capacity of 1 million barrels a day, according to Saudi Aramco. Its facilities include a natural gas liquids recovery plant with capacity of 2.4 billion standard cubic feet a day, according to the company's description of the facility. In maritime transport, Kpler said in a note on Monday that at least 18 attacks on ships had been recorded over two weeks, according to Reuters. In a diplomatic development, the U.S. State Department said the departure order covered nonessential personnel at the embassy in Riyadh and its consulates, according to the Associated Press. In the U.S. market, West Texas Intermediate crude closed at $97.15 a barrel on Wednesday, according to EL7 data. Trading in the November U.S. crude contract had ended on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
In the United States, commercial crude inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell by 3.1 million barrels in the week ended October 16, according to the Energy Information Administration. Stocks reached 412.5 million barrels, compared with 415.6 million barrels the previous week. The draw exceeded the average analyst forecast in a Reuters poll, which pointed to a decline of about 800,000 barrels over the same period. The inventory decline extended to gasoline, with stocks falling by 3.0 million barrels, according to the EIA. Gasoline inventories stood at 205.3 million barrels, against 208.3 million barrels the previous week. Distillate inventories, meanwhile, rose by 1.7 million barrels to 104.3 million barrels from 102.6 million barrels.
The crude inventory draw coincided with lower U.S. production and higher net imports, according to the EIA. Crude output stood at 13,269 thousand barrels a day in the week ended October 16, against 13,679 thousand barrels a day the previous week. The weekly production decline reached 410 thousand barrels a day. In trade flows, net crude imports rose to 2,316 thousand barrels a day from 1,479 thousand barrels a day, an increase of 837 thousand barrels a day. Crude exports fell to 3,442 thousand barrels a day, compared with 4,570 thousand barrels a day the previous week. Exports declined by 1,128 thousand barrels a day over the same comparison period.
In the U.S. refining sector, crude inputs to refineries rose in the week ended October 16, according to the EIA. Inputs stood at 16,649 thousand barrels a day, against 16,615 thousand barrels a day the previous week, an increase of 34 thousand barrels a day. At the same time, refinery capacity utilization fell to 93.4% from 93.5%, a decline of 0.1 percentage point. On the demand side, petroleum products supplied, a proxy for consumption, averaged 21.1 million barrels a day over the four weeks ended October 16. That represented an increase of 3.2% from the same period a year earlier, according to the agency.
In its October outlook, the EIA forecast that spot Brent prices would average $105 a barrel in the fourth quarter of 2026. The agency raised its estimate by $14 a barrel from the forecast in its September report. Its outlook assumes continued restrictions on oil flows from the Middle East, with disrupted production averaging 4.5 million barrels a day during the fourth quarter. On prospective fuel supplies, Alexander Novak said on Wednesday that the planned Russian diesel tanker shipment to the United States would carry 40,000 metric tons, according to Reuters. The first tanker was scheduled to be dispatched on the Thursday following his remarks. On the upcoming release calendar, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission set October 23, 2026, as the publication date for its Commitments of Traders report.