Brent crude fell more than 3% on Oct. 20 after reaching a five-month intraday high, as Houthi claims of attacks on Saudi facilities kept potential oil supply disruptions in focus.
Anadolu reported that Brent futures traded at $106.18 a barrel at 10:40 a.m. ET (14:40 UTC), down 3.07% from the previous close. Reuters reported that the front-month contract had touched $111.99 earlier in the session, then traded at $108.88 at 10:09 a.m. ET (14:09 UTC). The readings were intraday prices, following an earlier rise in Brent futures.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said Oct. 19 that the group had conducted six operations against Saudi targets during the preceding 48 hours. He named an Aramco facility in Yanbu, the Shaybah oilfield and airports in Riyadh and Abha. Reuters reported that Saudi officials had not confirmed his account of the strikes.
Separately, the Saudi-led coalition reported intercepting and destroying a Houthi ballistic missile on its way to Riyadh on Oct. 20. The coalition's statement concerned that missile, rather than the facilities named by Saree.
Diesel supplies were already tight. The International Energy Agency (IEA) said Oct. 15 that its members had released about 330 million barrels from emergency oil stocks and planned to speed up the release of roughly 100 million more. The remaining schedule included more than 20 million barrels of diesel; the agency described that diesel supply as planned, not delivered.
In its Oct. 14 oil market report, the IEA traced pressure on diesel supplies to disrupted exports from the Middle East and Russia, reduced refinery output and higher freight costs. It said wholesale diesel prices had climbed above $200 a barrel in Singapore in mid-September and to around $220 a barrel in Europe and the United States, before easing. Higher fuel costs were raising goods prices and reducing households' purchasing power, the agency said.
The Federal Reserve raised its target interest-rate range by 0.25 percentage point to 3.75% to 4% on Sept. 16, saying inflation remained elevated. Its next policy meeting is scheduled for Oct. 27-28.
