Oil prices held their gains on Thursday, October 15, as a surge in attacks stretching from Russia to West Asia threatened supplies that had only recently recovered to near pre-war levels.
Brent crude traded around $105 a barrel in early Asian trade after climbing 1.3% in the first three sessions of the week.
The US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for November delivery slipped 0.3% to $94.77 a barrel, around the same time.
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Shipping attacks in the Gulf region drove much of the anxiety. Unknown projectiles struck the Singapore-flagged container ship GFS Pride as it crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, sparking a fire and forcing all 21 crew members to evacuate before the vessel sank, Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority said. Nobody was injured, the authority added.
A second Singapore-flagged freighter, the GFS Giselle, sustained hull damage on Wednesday but reached a safe anchorage under its own power. None of its 22 crew members suffered injuries, the authority added.
Separately, the International Maritime Organisation said the bulk carrier Cape Dao had sunk following a September 23 attack that killed one crew member.
Tankers were also steering clear of their usual loading zones. Vessels capable of carrying at least 37 million barrels had stopped or changed course while heading towards loading areas off the United Arab Emirates and Oman, suggesting that intensified Iranian attacks were complicating export logistics, according to a Bloomberg report.
Meanwhile, Tehran-backed Houthis continued launching missile and drone attacks across Saudi Arabia. In Russia, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Ukrainian drones had hit refineries in the Saratov and Ryazan regions on Wednesday, Interfax reported.
Moscow accused Kyiv of violating an “energy ceasefire” promoted by US President Donald Trump. Ryazan, near Moscow, processed about 400,000 barrels a day and ranked among Russia’s largest refineries.
Brent had surged more than 70% this year as the US-Iran war roiled energy markets. The International Energy Agency said on Wednesday that oil users had been drawing on stockpiles, leaving onshore inventories near their lowest levels in at least a decade.
The agency also reported that UAE oil production had climbed to a record in the previous month.
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The UAE, a former OPEC member, had been among the most successful regional producers in restoring flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
In the US, the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute reported that nationwide crude inventories had fallen by 11.1 million barrels in the previous week, according to a Bloomberg report.
If official data released on Thursday confirmed the figure, it would mark the biggest decline since June 2025.
With Bloomberg Inputs