Oil prices jumped on Friday, October 16, with Brent closing in on $110 a barrel and US crude back above $100, as fresh threats to Middle East supply outweighed emergency stock releases.
The numbers
- Brent (December): settled at $109.86, up $3.94 (3.72%) on the day and 4.91% on the week. It briefly touched $110, its highest since May.
- WTI (November): settled at $101.41, up $3.44 (3.51%) on the day and 10.41% on the week.
What moved prices
According to EnergyNow, the Saudi-led coalition’s interception of a missile aimed at the Red Sea port of Yanbu, and Iranian disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, drove the rally. A Ukrainian strike that shut a key crude unit at Russia’s Ryazan refinery added to worries about diesel supply. US crude stocks fell 8.6 million barrels in the week to October 9. More than 20 million barrels of additional IEA releases and a US offer of up to 17 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve did not stop the climb.
What it means for Guyana
Brent at these levels is roughly 77% above where it stood a year ago, per Fortune’s tracking. Higher prices raise the value of every barrel lifted from the Stabroek Block, and with it Guyana’s profit-oil and royalty earnings into the Natural Resource Fund. That makes questions about how much of that revenue actually reaches the Treasury, and how it is spent, more pressing than ever.
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