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# Brent crude closed at US$116.72, its highest since April, as attacks spread across Saudi Arabia
- URL: https://www.sharespective.com/stories/brent-crude-closed-us-116-72-2026-10-24/
- Published: 2026-10-23T21:15:01.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T22:50:35.000Z
- Description: Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 3.14% on Friday to settle at US$116.72 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the American benchmark, gained 3.82% to US$103.27.
- Author: Shaun Botha
- Tags: Energy, #story, #group-energy

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 3.14% on Friday to settle at US$116.72 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the American benchmark, gained 3.82% to US$103.27.

**The fighting is getting closer to the oil.** Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are backed by Iran, have carried out a run of attacks across Saudi Arabia. A drone strike on the Shaybah oil field on Wednesday killed two people, according to Saudi state media.

Traders have a second worry. The New York Times reported that the US and Israel have plans for fresh strikes on Iran after the US midterm elections.

![Chart: Brent crude surges for the second time this year. Brent's monthly average price in US$ a barrel, October 2016 to September 2026. Friday's US$116.72 is a single day's settlement, so it is not on the line.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/02/71/0271df32-cec6-421f-9f13-b06ab90e54c1/content/images/2026/10/brent-crude-closed-us-116-72-2026-10-24-chart.jpg)

This story’s chart of the day.

Brent rose 6.2% over the week, its third weekly gain in a row.

Energy was the best of the S&P 500's 11 sectors on Friday, up 2.26%. ExxonMobil rose 2.79% to US$183.21\. SLB, which sells drilling services to oil producers, jumped 7.08% after beating profit forecasts and pointing to a recovery in Middle East work.

The fuel buyers paid for it. Delta Air Lines fell 3.13% to US$76.78, and United and American Airlines fell with it.

The bigger picture 

dearer oil helps a handful of producers and costs almost everyone else. On Thursday, Procter & Gamble said its cost forecast assumes Brent at US$100\. Our read is that the longer Brent stays above US$110, the more company forecasts built on cheaper oil will need redoing.

[ This story ran in Tower Power Saturday 24 October’s edition, with the market snapshot, the other two stories, the numbers and the week ahead. Read the whole edition → ](https://www.sharespective.com/sharespective-2026-10-24/)