Brent falls 0.95% on Sept 17 as Saudi supply fears ease
Diesel futures hit records as disruption in the Middle East and Russia strains fuel supplies, even as crude prices retreat on Saudi supply hopes.
- Brent crude oil fell 0.95% to US$104.82 a barrel on September 17 as concerns over potential supply disruptions from Saudi Arabia eased.
- Supply fears were alleviated after Saudi Arabia offered extra crude cargoes to Asian refiners via ship-to-ship transfers off the coast of Oman.
- Expectations that Saudi Arabia would quickly restore about half the capacity of its drone-damaged East-West pipeline also contributed to the price decline.
Brent crude fell 0.95% on Thursday, September 17, 2026, as expectations of additional Saudi supplies eased some concern about Middle East disruption, although both major oil benchmarks remained above US$100 a barrel. At the September 17 close, Brent futures were down US$1.01 at US$104.82 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate futures lost 52 US cents, or 0.5%, to US$101.91 a barrel. Both benchmarks had fallen about 3% on Wednesday, September 16.
Saudi cargo offers and pipeline hopes ease supply fears
Saudi Arabia was offering extra crude cargoes to Asian refiners through ship-to-ship transfers off Oman’s Sohar port helped push both benchmarks more than US$3 lower during the September 17 session. Brent touched its lowest level since September 10, while US crude reached its lowest since September 11.
The additional Saudi cargoes offered through Sohar would offset some disruption caused by attacks on the East-West pipeline, which carries crude towards the Red Sea.
Saudi Arabia was also seeking to restore about half the East-West pipeline’s capacity within days after drone attacks halted the link the previous week.
Christopher Tahir, senior market strategist at trading platform Exness, attributed Thursday’s further decline in oil prices to a partial easing of Middle East supply concerns. Additional offshore loadings via Oman and efforts to restore the Saudi pipeline had provided some relief, he said.
Saudi pipeline repair timetable remains uncertain
Three pumping stations serving Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline were damaged in an attack the previous week, according to assessments from three oil and security sources. The repair timetable remained unclear.
Oil had climbed to around four-month highs earlier in the week of September 14 after shipping industry sources described suspended crude loadings at Yanbu and cancelled Saudi deliveries to European customers. The East-West pipeline supplies Yanbu, Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea export hub.
Traders said a prolonged shutdown of the Saudi pipeline could remove as much as 4% of global oil supply. Saudi Arabia had not announced a restart date, although US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC on Tuesday, September 15, that crude should resume flowing within days.
Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis exchanged fresh cross-border strikes on September 17. The spread of the Middle East war into Yemen and Saudi Arabia threatened to deepen the global energy shortage that followed US and Israeli attacks on Iran in February.
“Nevertheless, the physical market remains tight, limiting the scope for further declines,” Exness strategist Tahir said. He said tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz continued to decline, while Saudi-Houthi tensions left Red Sea shipping and regional energy infrastructure vulnerable to further disruption.
Singapore’s DBS Bank said its base case for the fourth quarter assumed tensions between the United States and Iran would ease, allowing Brent to stabilise between US$85 and US$95 a barrel.
Diesel futures reach record closing levels
European gasoil futures, a benchmark for diesel prices, settled at a record high on Tuesday, September 15. US ultra-low sulphur diesel futures also posted a record settlement.
Tightening diesel supplies added to pressure on energy markets as disruption to infrastructure in the Middle East and Russia constrained fuel availability. Crude supply disruption nevertheless remained the market’s main concern.
A Ukrainian drone attack damaged a refinery in the Russian city of Yaroslavl and started a fire that was subsequently extinguished, regional Governor Mikhail Yevrayev said on September 17.
