Brent settles at $107.63 as tanker attacks push both crude benchmarks over $100

Brent crude futures settled at $107.63 a barrel on Thursday, 10 September 2026, up $6.42 or 6.34 percent. West Texas Intermediate rose $6.43, or 6.69 percent, to $102.48. Both prints were the highest since 19 May. WTI had not closed above $100 since 21 May.

Reuters described the day's shipping attacks as the largest cluster since the Iran war began on 28 February. Iran said it had struck 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday. The United States had hit five Iranian oil tankers. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it would raise its response if American strikes continued. Flows through Hormuz remain far below pre-war volumes. About a fifth of seaborne crude and a large share of liquefied natural gas normally pass that channel.

Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, said the move back above $100 shows a market changing its view of how long the war will keep Middle East barrels off the water. Dated Brent, the physical benchmark against which about two thirds of global crude is priced, has sat above $100 since 3 September, according to LSEG data cited in market reports. Futures had spent most of the period since late May below that line after a brief July spike.

Brent peaked at $126.41 on 30 April, then faded when traders assumed a pause would hold. That pause did not hold. President Donald Trump has said he expects the war to end after the November midterm elections because, in his words, Iran cannot hold out. Closed-door briefings reported this week contradict that timeline.

OPEC cut its 2026 world oil demand growth forecast to 380,000 barrels a day, the fifth straight downward revision. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said crude stocks fell on strong refining runs. ING analysts flagged Chinese buying as the swing factor that could amplify any further supply cut. Saudi output has slipped to its lowest level this year after Houthi threats against west-coast shipments. On 10 September the Houthis took the Yemeni port of Mokha, 75 kilometres from Bab al-Mandab, a second choke point now sitting under an Iran-aligned force.

The war is six months old. A short U.S.-Iran understanding to halt attacks collapsed. Iranian media reported explosions in southern coastal areas this week. CBS correspondent Jennifer Jacobs said American aircraft were damaged in strikes on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. Those claims sit alongside the tanker tally and the $100 settle. They are not the same fact, and they have not all been confirmed in the same way.

For refiners and importers the number that matters on Friday morning is the settle, not the peak. $107.63 Brent and $102.48 WTI reprice jet fuel, diesel and gasoline in the same week India hosts a BRICS summit and New York marks 25 years since 11 September. The next test is whether dated Brent stays above $100 if Hormuz loadings do not recover and if Chinese spot demand holds.