Morning Highlights: Explosives Attached to Tanker’s Hull Near Khasab as Brent’s Expiring December Contract Hits $117

Friday, October 30, 2026 | 6:45 AM ET

Brent (December, expiring today) $117.67 | Brent (January) $113.59 | WTI (December) $104.20Brent December +$2.79, January +$2.79, WTI +$2.20. For the month, Brent is on course for a 13% gain and WTI 15%, the fourth straight monthly gain. UKMTO verified that a tanker transiting outbound in the Strait of Hormuz was hit by two explosive devices attached to its hull by a small boat, causing an engine room fire. The crew is safe and the vessel is continuing to its next port. The Houthis said Thursday they attacked Ras Tanura, the Rabigh refinery and a facility in Abqaiq.

Bottom Line

Today more attacks and the market is up, the seesaw continues. UKMTO’s warning, verified by the agency, puts it 25 nautical miles northeast of Khasab, Oman, at 2212 UTC on October 29. A small boat approached the tanker’s port side and attached two explosive devices above the waterline. The blasts started a fire in the engine room that temporarily disabled the vessel. The fire is out, there is no environmental impact, and the crew is safe. UKMTO did not name the ship, and Reuters says it is unclear who was behind it. A small-boat attack with attached charges is a different method from the missiles, drones and mines in most of this month’s reports, though a small boat was also used in the October 16 rocket-propelled grenade strike on the tanker Loyalty. On Thursday the Houthis claimed attacks on several Saudi sites, including the Ras Tanura refinery, the Rabigh refinery and an Aramco production facility in Abqaiq, and a Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted a cruise missile aimed at the western region. The reporting here doesn’t say whether Saudi Arabia has confirmed damage at any of the three. ExxonMobil and Chevron cancelled plans for executives to travel to next week’s ADIPEC oil show in the UAE, two sources told Reuters, a sign of how companies are weighing the security risk.

Positioning is going into the midterms, and the commentary is consistent about it. Saxo’s Ole Hansen said the oil market is “getting increasingly spooked as we approach the midterms,” with some investors and analysts expecting US attacks on Iran to resume after the vote. UBS’s Giovanni Staunovo said he still sees a higher likelihood of escalation and supply disruption, because Iranian officials have been cautious about whether a deal is possible in the short term. Qatari mediators returned to Tehran on Friday as part of coordinated efforts, but Iran’s semi-official Tasnim agency said Tehran has received Vice President JD Vance’s letter without replying, wants the US to meet its conditions, and considers any position that contradicts that framework unacceptable. Trump described Vance’s outreach as aimed at helping Iran get medical supplies, while US media reported it was an attempt to revive peace talks, so the two sides are not describing the same message.

Ukraine’s pause on Russian refinery strikes appears to have ended. A fire was reported at Rosneft’s Novokuibyshevsk refinery in Russia’s Samara region overnight, following a suspected Ukrainian drone attack. The plant processes about 170,000 bpd, per Bloomberg. Samara’s governor said Ukrainian drones were being repelled but did not say what was hit, and Ukrainian officials haven’t commented. Bloomberg and the Kyiv Independent could not verify the damage, and NASA satellite data shows two fresh heat anomalies near the plant. It would be the first strike on a Russian refinery since the informal pause began in mid-October. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Ukraine suspended the strikes under US pressure and expected the pause to hold until after the US midterms. Energy Aspects estimates the lull let Russian refiners restore throughput to the highest since May. That matters for the diesel deal, since recovering Russian output was the condition for the additional cargoes.