Iran says 7 tankers damaged in Hormuz as Brent rises to $111.11
Key Facts
Iranian television said 7 oil tankers "caught fire and were damaged" overnight on Thursday in the Strait of Hormuz after being targeted or striking naval mines, according to an Associated Press report on October 22, 2026. The Iranian announcement of tanker damage comes in a waterway where oil flows recovered in September, with increases in shipments passing through it and exports using routes that bypass it. In Asian trading on Thursday, the Associated Press reported that Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 2.1% to $111.11 a barrel following the news. The U.S. crude benchmark also rose 2% to $99.05 a barrel in the trading covered by the agency's report. For comparison over time, Investing reported the previous Friday that Brent was trading at $105.48 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate at $97.40 at the time of writing.
Crude exports from Gulf producers rose in September, led by Saudi Arabia, according to the International Energy Agency's October Oil Market Report. Exports increased by 4.4 million barrels per day from the previous month to 13.9 million barrels per day. Ship-to-ship oil transfers in the Gulf of Oman helped increase oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz during the same month. Those flows rose by 3.7 million barrels per day to 10.9 million barrels per day, according to the agency. In parallel, the resumption of flows through the East-West pipeline helped increase exports via routes bypassing Hormuz by 970 thousand barrels per day, to a total of 5.6 million barrels per day in September.
The improvement in export activity coincided with a decline in disrupted crude production in the Middle East, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates. The administration estimated disrupted production in September at 4.8 million barrels per day, compared with 5.8 million barrels per day in August. Disruptions peaked at 10.9 million barrels per day in May, according to the administration. On inventories, the International Energy Agency estimated that observed global oil inventories at the end of September were 509 million barrels below pre-war levels. This cumulative inventory decline came despite the increase in Gulf producers' exports and improved flows through Hormuz and alternative routes during September.
The Strait of Hormuz's role in energy supplies extends to liquefied natural gas exports from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, alongside oil shipments. According to the pre-war baseline in the International Energy Agency's February 2026 bulletin, about 93% of Qatar's LNG exports pass through the strait. The share of the UAE's LNG exports passing through it is 96%, according to the agency. Together, these flows account for 19% of global LNG trade. The agency said that "about 93% of Qatar's and 96% of the UAE's liquefied natural gas exports pass through the strait, accounting for 19% of global liquefied natural gas trade."
In its outlook for 2026, the International Energy Agency forecast that global oil demand would fall by 2.6 million barrels per day year on year to 102.4 million barrels per day. The agency attributed the expected decline to higher prices and a deteriorating economic outlook. Nevertheless, the U.S. Energy Information Administration expected global oil inventory draws to continue at an average of 0.7 million barrels per day during the final quarter of 2026. On measures to support supplies, Investing reported that the International Energy Agency announced the previous Thursday that member countries had agreed to complete the release of the remaining 100 million barrels from an intervention that began in March. The agreement concerns completing the release of the remaining volume from that intervention, leaving implementation of the releases among the supply developments to be monitored.