- IEA members agreed to prioritize the release of diesel stocks, a supply response that weighed on crude prices.
- Brent December futures gained 0.44% to $101.02 a barrel while WTI November futures were broadly flat at $89.46.
- Saudi Arabia's airports in Jazan and Najran were targeted in two attacks as hostilities between Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis and the kingdom grow.
- Iran stepped up attacks on tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz, threatening the rebound in oil exports through the waterway.
- U.S. crude inventories fell 3.2 million barrels in the week ending October 2 to 424.1 million barrels, 1% above the five-year average, per EIA data.
- Distillate inventories held steady and remain 12% below the five-year average, leaving diesel tightness as the key supply concern.
- India and Ecuador are discussing increased sales of Ecuadorean crude, copper, and other critical minerals to India, with Ecuador inviting Indian investment in its oil and minerals sector.
Quotes
“The sustained ability of the Houthis in Yemen to target oil facilities hundreds of kilometers from the border keeps the risks of a renewed large-scale crude supply disruption present and high, and these risks could worsen if the Houthis feel the need to apply more pressure as a result of losing more territory”
“oil remains "caught between improving physical supply and persistent geopolitical risk.”