Brent rises 1.2% to $114.47 as WTI tops $100 a barrel
Key Facts
Brent crude futures rose $1.30, or 1.2%, to $114.47 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained $1.37, or 1.4%, to $100.84 at 06:39 GMT on Oct. 23, according to Reuters via MarketScreener. The move followed a 4% gain in both benchmarks in the previous session, taking them to a five-month high amid concerns about further supply disruptions after Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, the largest oil exporter. Prices had moved in the opposite direction in early Asian trading, with Brent at $112.96, down 0.2%, and WTI at $98.12, down 0.3%, at 00:30 GMT. The differing prices reflect two different points in the session, with U.S. crude moving from below $100 to above it in later trading. Brent settled on Thursday at its highest level since May 4, Reuters reported, as supply security and shipping concerns continued to drive the market.
Developments affecting Saudi infrastructure added to market concerns: Saudi Aramco ordered employees on Thursday to evacuate its Dhahran headquarters and work remotely, Reuters reported. Reuters also said a drone attack killed two people at a Saudi oil field, and other attacks targeted sites in the kingdom. The Associated Press reported that Aramco sites were targeted, which does not mean all the attacks hit oil fields. Reuters linked the previous session’s price gains to concerns about supply disruptions following Houthi attacks, while other reports put regional tensions and shipping risks in a broader context. In Libya, the National Oil Corporation told Reuters that the closure of a valve on a pipeline carrying crude from the Hamada and Zawiya fields to the Zawiya port cut output at the two fields, adding another factor to supply concerns.
Concerns also extended to the Strait of Hormuz, where Tehran said seven oil tankers caught fire or were damaged overnight between Oct. 21 and 22 after coming under Iranian attack or striking naval mines, the Associated Press reported; the agency could not independently verify the account. October saw the highest number of reported commercial shipping attacks since March, the AP said, citing a British military monitor. Even so, tankers continued to carry oil through the strait under U.S. military protection, and active Gulf operators showed limited signs of pulling out despite 28 attacks on vessels in October, according to the AP. The strait remains a key energy passage: about 20 million barrels a day of oil and petroleum products passed through it in 2025, equal to roughly 25% of global seaborne oil trade, according to the International Energy Agency. The agency estimates that pipelines can reroute between 3.5 and 5.5 million barrels a day of oil to bypass the strait, highlighting the limited alternatives relative to the volume flowing through it.
Saudi infrastructure offers a partial alternative route: Aramco Chief Executive Amin Nasser said the capacity of the East-West pipeline had increased from two million barrels to seven million barrels a day. The company is using drones to assess damage and help fight fires, he added, according to the Associated Press. The agency said the amount of oil transported through a pipeline that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz had tripled amid the global energy crisis. But that capacity does not eliminate the market’s sensitivity to any threat to infrastructure or tanker traffic, given the strait’s importance to maritime trade. On a weekly basis, Brent was on track for a third consecutive weekly gain after settling on Thursday at its highest level since May 4. WTI, by contrast, was on course to end two weeks of gains with a weekly decline, Reuters reported.
The moves come as inventories decline despite an increase in supply recorded in September. The International Energy Agency said observed global oil inventories fell by 10 million barrels that month and remained 509 million barrels below their level at the end of February. At the same time, global supply rose by 2.5 million barrels a day month on month to 102.3 million barrels a day in September, according to the agency’s October report. The agency expects supply to fall by an annual average of 5.8 million barrels a day in 2026, before rising by 7.7 million barrels a day in 2027. On the demand side, it expects global consumption to decline by 2.5 million barrels a day year on year in the fourth quarter of 2026, with the average decline reaching 2.6 million barrels a day for the year. The agency also said in its report published on Oct. 14 that Brent had risen 13% since the start of September to about $107 a barrel, as escalating attacks on energy infrastructure and tanker traffic threatened the recovery in Middle East supply.
The response has extended beyond adding transport routes: the International Energy Agency’s governing board said on Oct. 15 that about 330 million barrels had been released by that date as part of a collective action, with about 100 million barrels still remaining. Members also agreed to accelerate the release of more than 20 million barrels of diesel, according to the board’s statement. In daily data, Brent’s close rose from $108.82 on Oct. 21 to $113.17 on Oct. 22, then to $113.68 on Oct. 23, according to EL7 data. WTI closed at $97.15 on Oct. 21 and $99.47 on Oct. 22, before topping $100 in trading on Oct. 23 at 06:39 GMT. These levels reflect the combined effects of geopolitical concerns and potential supply disruptions, as well as alternative routes and stock releases, while prices were still moving during the session.