Brent crude was recorded at $104.43 per barrel on October 9, up 0.14% from the previous session’s $104.28, according to Trading Economics. The benchmark was hovering near $104 as traders weighed several threats to global energy supplies rather than a single clear cause.
A day earlier, MarketWatch reported that Brent had jumped nearly 4% to trade above $104 after a tanker north of Qatar was struck by multiple projectiles, adding to fears about the availability and movement of crude.
Gulf disruptions remain the clearest documented pressure
The broader backdrop is the war with Iran and disruption around the Strait of Hormuz. Reuters described it as the largest-ever energy supply shock and reported that the closure of the strait had shut off roughly 20% of the world’s oil. World Bank President Ajay Banga said global growth had held up better than feared, but pressures from diesel and fertilizer prices were building again.
Trading Economics also cited strained shipping, record freight costs and reduced tanker availability as factors keeping oil prices elevated. Its market data showed Brent down 2.97% over the previous month despite being 66.48% higher than a year earlier—figures that complicate claims that one recent development explains the entire move.
Ukraine’s role is part of a political dispute
President Donald Trump has blamed Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries for reducing global diesel supplies and raising prices. Reuters reported that Trump urged Kyiv to stop the strikes, while also noting that the steep rise in diesel prices followed the outbreak of the Iran war in February.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has resisted a unilateral halt. He said Ukraine would stop attacking Russian refineries if Moscow stopped striking Ukrainian power infrastructure. Trump later announced what he called an immediate “energy ceasefire,” but Reuters reported that neither Kyiv nor Moscow immediately confirmed an agreement.
The evidence supports treating Ukraine’s refinery campaign as one factor in the debate over diesel supplies, not as a settled explanation for the broader oil-price surge. The most directly documented market pressures remain the Iran war, constrained shipping through Hormuz and attacks affecting Gulf transport.
