Brent crude tops $110 for the first time since May as Hormuz attacks mount

Oil prices jumped on Friday, 16 October, with the international benchmark Brent crude touching $110 a barrel for the first time since May. Brent settled at $109.86, a gain of 3.7% on the day, while West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark, climbed 3.5% to $101.41, according to The UBJ. The move came as a fresh wave of attacks on shipping in the Gulf, and on energy infrastructure elsewhere, raised doubts about how much crude can reach the market in the coming weeks.

The rise caps a steep climb. Earlier on 16 October, Fortune put Brent at $108.51 a barrel, about 77% higher than a year earlier, when it traded near $61. Drivers are already feeling the effect: the motoring group AAA put the average US gasoline price at $4.33 a gallon on 14 October, compared with $2.98 before the Iran war began, CBS News reported.

What is driving the jump

The main pressure point is the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow channel between Iran and Oman that normally carries a large share of the world's seaborne oil. The UK Maritime Trade Operations centre (UKMTO) counted at least 12 ships attacked in the week ending 16 October and said the real number may be higher, because many vessels do not report incidents. Al Jazeera, citing data from the analytics firm Kpler, reported that oil flows through the strait averaged 11.6 million barrels a day in the seven days to 13 October, roughly 68% of the pre-war level of 17.1 million barrels a day.

Other fronts are adding to the strain. Al Jazeera reported continuing Houthi attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure, and a Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted a ballistic missile heading for the Red Sea port of Yanbu, an export route that avoids Hormuz; initial assessments showed no damage. In Russia, the Ryazan refinery halted a crude distillation unit after a drone attack, according to industry sources quoted by The UBJ, a step that could tighten diesel supplies.

Efforts to ease supply

Governments have tried to cushion the shock. The International Energy Agency agreed to release more than 20 million barrels of fuel, and the United States announced plans for an exchange of up to 17 million barrels of crude from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve, The UBJ reported. So far those steps have not been enough to stop prices from rising.

What happens next

Traders are watching shipping in the strait and the diplomacy around the war, which began on 28 February 2026. Al Jazeera reported that mediators including Pakistan and Qatar are still passing messages between the sides, but that no breakthrough is expected soon. Expensive energy also complicates the outlook for interest rates: US consumer prices rose 3.7% in the year to September, and the Federal Reserve meets on 27 and 28 October.