Oil prices gained over $1 on Wednesday as escalating Middle East tensions fuelled fears of supply disruptions, while falling US crude and product inventories lent support to the market, Reuters reported from Beijing. Brent crude futures rose $1.59, or 1.5 per cent, to $110.38 per barrel as of 0350 GMT, and US West Texas Intermediate crude gained $1.36, or 1.4 per cent, to $99.18 per barrel. The Hindu BusinessLine, reporting the same Wednesday session, put December Brent at $110.31, up 1.40 per cent, in early trade.

Prices had fallen in the previous session after Iran's president discussed mediation efforts in a meeting with Pakistan's army chief in Tehran, though Brent had touched a five-month high of $111.99 before settling down 76 cents at $108.79, Reuters said. "Oil prices have been having a bit of a wild ride in the last couple of sessions," said Suvro Sarkar, head of energy research at DBS, in comments reported by Reuters. "We believe this is a mix of profit taking and optimistic hopes of a Qatar- or Pakistan-brokered deal, countered by the realisation that any deal is still very distant and compounded further by inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute (API), which shows drawdowns continuing in the US for both crude and products."

Industry data cited by The Hindu BusinessLine showed US crude inventories fell by 4.93 million barrels in the week ending October 16, according to the API — yaani (that is) about 49.3 lakh barrels drawn out of storage in a single week. Official US inventory data was expected later on Wednesday. Two US Energy Department officials said on Tuesday they were working with refiners worldwide to increase fuel production amid rising prices linked to a diesel shortage, Reuters reported.

Maritime risks are also widening. Ship-tracker Kpler said at least 18 vessel attacks were recorded over the past two weeks, and LSEG analysts warned, in a note reported by Reuters, that attacks on tankers have expanded beyond the Strait of Hormuz, with vessels targeted as far south as the Gulf of Oman — threatening loadings outside the Arab Gulf and the ship-to-ship transfers that have helped support Middle East loadings. A supertanker caught fire after striking a sea mine south of the Strait of Hormuz while "violating" Iranian regulations, Iran's Revolutionary Guards Navy said on Tuesday, according to Iranian media cited by Reuters.

In Saudi Arabia, Yemen's Houthi movement claimed responsibility on Monday for attacks on a Saudi Aramco site in Yanbu, the Shaybah oilfield and Saudi Arabia's Riyadh and Abha airports, Reuters reported; the claims could not be independently verified. The death toll from a Houthi attack on Yemeni government forces on Monday rose to 73 as fighting intensified, Reuters said. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a television interview aired on Tuesday that Iran has not received a response from Saudi Arabia or Yemen's Houthis to its offer to help broker peace talks. Iranian media outlet Nournews reported Iran told Pakistan's army chief there would be no talks with Washington until its demands were met, and that a Qatari delegation had arrived in Tehran; Reuters noted there was no official confirmation of those reports.

For India, the world's largest crude importer among the countries Awaaz Punjab readers live in, and for the lakhs of Punjabi and Indian workers in the Gulf, sustained crude above $110 means costlier fuel, freight and remittance economics back home if the shipping risk premium holds. Sources: Reuters (Beijing, Oct 21, 2026); The Hindu BusinessLine (Oct 21, 2026); OilPrice.com (Oct 21, 2026).