TOKYO — Benchmark US crude futures fell around $1 on Thursday, paring some of the previous day's gains, as traders weighed the risk that escalating Middle East conflict could further disrupt regional energy supplies, Reuters reported. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 92 cents, or 0.9%, at $101.86 a barrel, after dropping as low as $101.75. They had risen 3% on Wednesday.

Source: Reuters

$101.86WTI per barrel, down 92 cents (0.9%) on Thursday
3%WTI rise on Wednesday that Thursday's move partly reversed
550,000 bpdCapacity of Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura refinery, hit in a Houthi claim Riyadh has not confirmed

Supply risk: Aden and Ras Tanura

Yemen's Houthis attacked Aden airport on Wednesday, Yemeni government forces said, after the Iran-aligned group warned people to evacuate the facility as fighting surged in Yemen, Reuters reported. On Tuesday, the Houthis said they had hit Saudi Arabia's biggest oil refinery with a missile, stepping up strikes against the world's second-largest crude producer after the US. Saudi authorities did not immediately confirm the strike on the 550,000 barrel-per-day facility.

Source: Reuters

Our earlier report covered the Aden airport strike itself, in which air traffic was halted after the Houthi evacuation warning. Read the Aden airport report

Diplomacy pulls the other way

Oil also dropped as traders assessed fresh diplomatic efforts to avert a potential restart of US military strikes on Iran, Bloomberg reported. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran continued to give diplomacy a chance, and the Wall Street Journal reported US Vice-President JD Vance had reached out to Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's top security body. US President Donald Trump told Axios on Wednesday that negotiations were taking place through mediators but stressed he did not know whether they would bear fruit: "We need to finish the job — either through a deal or another way — we will find out if negotiations can succeed," he was quoted as saying.

Source: Bloomberg via BBRW

"Headlines like this can move prices," said Rebecca Babin, senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth Group, according to Bloomberg. "Any indication of communication between senior officials on both sides may be enough to prompt some profit-taking, and take a bit of that risk premium out." Qatari mediators have presented Iran with a new draft deal to end the war with the US and Israel, an official briefed on the negotiations said, but a senior Iranian official described them only as unacceptable ideas that did not amount to an offer, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters

Global benchmark Brent has rallied by 11% in October, touching the highest since April, as the conflict has dragged on, Bloomberg reported — a surge that has heaped pressure onto consumers and presented a challenge to central bankers seeking to contain inflation. Brent closed near $115 a barrel.

Source: Bloomberg via BBRW