Brent's first $110 print since May
Brent crude touched $110 a barrel during Friday trading, the first time the global benchmark has reached that level since 20 May. The price rose 3.7 percent on the day and notched a second straight weekly gain. Crude is up more than 75 percent this year as wars in the Middle East and strikes on Russian and Ukrainian energy sites keep supply tight.
Refined products have rallied harder still. European diesel futures have more than doubled in 2026, and traders added to bets on higher prices going into the weekend.
Nine ships hit in a week in the Strait of Hormuz
At least nine tankers and cargo ships have been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz over the past week, according to shipping and market trackers. Iran has blocked or slowed most commercial traffic through the waterway since the start of the war, and a US official told Reuters that Tehran has begun using unarmed spotters in small boats to identify targets.
The head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Ali Ozmaei, said on Wednesday that Tehran is impatient to sink American warships. Crude exports through the strait now sit at about 70 percent of prewar levels, according to the tracking firm Kpler, after briefly recovering in September.
Strikes are not limited to the Gulf. Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen continue missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, and Russia and Ukraine keep hitting each other's energy infrastructure despite a proposed energy ceasefire.
Rerouted cargo and higher freight costs
The disruption is reshaping trade routes. Hub ports such as Jebel Ali, Abu Dhabi and Hamad are losing traffic, while Khor Fakkan, Sohar and Hambantota take on diverted cargo, according to logistics updates. Delays are building at Indian gateways including Mundra and Nhava Sheva, and at least one airport cargo terminal has promised extra staff and a fee waiver to clear a backlog.
With no easy alternative to the strait, shipments face longer transit times, higher freight rates and steeper war-risk insurance. Those costs feed into fuel and food prices, a link that showed up this week in US inflation data, and they are landing weeks before American midterm elections.
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