Brent settles at $116.72, highest since April 29: up 6 percent in a week
Oil rose on Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, a spill off the UAE and attacks on tankers near Hormuz.
Brent crude on Friday, October 23, settled at 116.72 dollars a barrel, up 3.55 dollars or 3.14 percent and the highest level since April 29. Over the week the price rose 6 percent. US crude WTI settled at 103.27 dollars, up 3.8 percent on the day and 2.3 percent on the week, according to Business Recorder.
What is driving the price? Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, including on energy infrastructure, raised fears of supply disruptions. Saudi Aramco ordered the evacuation of its headquarters in Dhahran, and fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis intensified. That is a continuation of the events of October 22, when the Shaybah oil field was hit.
In addition, an oil spill was detected off the UAE coast, near Umm Al Quwain, with an unknown cause, and the tanker has not been identified. Attacks on tankers in Hormuz and nearby waters, according to a US think tank, made October the worst month for such attacks since 2017. Libya closed a valve on a pipeline serving the Hamada and Tahara fields, reducing output.
Analysts are cautious. Adam Turnquist of LPL Financial says fears of disruption drove the gain, and Andrew Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates says the market is worried about continued attacks on tankers and that increased flow through Hormuz could reverse at any moment.
How are states responding? The US authorized an emergency exchange of up to 400,000 barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for Phillips 66's Lake Charles refinery, with the reserve at its lowest level since 1982. Germany's stockpile agency began tendering diesel, heating oil and crude from strategic reserves.
What does it mean for fuel here? Fuel prices in North Macedonia are set by the RKE according to world quotations with some lag, so any rise in oil usually passes through to the pumps. In one of the latest calculations we followed, diesel was 99 and 95-octane petrol 96 denars a liter. How much the next price jumps depends on the average of quotations in the period taken into account, which we do not know. I did not find a date for the next calculation.
What is not known? It is not known whether the price will hold at this level, or how long the attacks will last. It is also not known whether US and German reserves will calm the market. It is unclear whether the government will extend the fuel measures, such as the reduced VAT on diesel.
What does it mean? Oil is again above 116 dollars and the market is reacting to security risks, not to supply and demand. For drivers and for inflation, that is a signal that pressure from fuel will not ease soon.
MKNews Hub · Macedonia · October 25, 2026
