U.S. Crude Settles Above $100 as Brent Reaches Its Highest Close Since April

Oil prices rose for a third straight week on Friday, with U.S. crude settling above $100 a barrel and the global benchmark reaching its highest close in nearly six months, as attacks on Saudi Arabia and tension with Iran fed fears of new supply disruptions.

Brent crude futures settled at $116.72 a barrel, up $3.55, or 3.1%, the highest close since April 29. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled at $103.27, up $3.80, or 3.8%. A day earlier, WTI had closed at $99.47 and Brent at $113.17, which was then Brent's highest close since May 4. Brent finished the week up about 6% and WTI about 2%.

The latest gains followed a series of attacks by Iran-backed Houthi militants on targets across Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude exporter, including energy sites and airports. The State Department this week ordered non-essential U.S. personnel to leave the kingdom.

Iran's army chief said that the country's forces were fully prepared for "asymmetric warfare" after strengthening their capabilities, Iranian state media said.

In the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passage for much of the Gulf's oil, the two sides traded claims this week. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Thursday that seven vessels had been hit, including tankers set on fire in the Persian Gulf and ships that struck mines. British maritime authorities logged two incidents. President Trump rejected Iran's account and accused Tehran of staging the reports to lift prices before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

"Iran is doing everything they can to drive up the price of Oil prior to the U.S. Midterm Election," Trump wrote on Truth Social. He said more oil was now moving through Hormuz than before the conflict began.

Washington has fewer emergency barrels to work with than at any time in decades. Crude in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has fallen to about 283 million barrels, the lowest level since 1982, after repeated releases tied to the Iran war. Those releases have mostly been structured as exchanges, in which companies borrow oil and return it later with a premium.

The Energy Department this month authorized a similar exchange from a much smaller stockpile aimed at the Northeast. It is offering up to 315,000 barrels of ultra-low-sulfur heating oil from the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve, held at sites in South Portland, Maine, Boston and New Haven, Connecticut. Deliveries are scheduled by Nov. 13, and companies that take the fuel must return the same volume plus a premium before the 2027-28 heating season. Bids are due Oct. 27.

The reserve was built for winters like this one. The average retail price of home heating oil in New York was $6.417 a gallon in the week of Oct. 19, the Energy Information Administration said, up 8.2 cents from the week before and up $2.587 from a year earlier. The national average was $6.190.

For Long Island households that heat with oil, that is the most direct cost of the conflict.

Higher energy prices are landing at the same time the largest technology companies are borrowing more to pay for artificial intelligence data centers. The cost of insuring Meta Platforms' debt against default rose to a record on Thursday, with five-year credit default swaps at around 115 to 119 basis points, after the company said its spending outran its operating cash flow for the quarter and announced plans for a new class of non-voting stock it can sell to raise money.

The number of rigs drilling for oil and gas in the United States held at 603 for the week ended Oct. 23, unchanged for a second week, the oilfield services company Baker Hughes said Friday.