Brent Surges Past $109 After Yemen Strike on Saudi Pipeline as Oil Posts Biggest Single-Day Spike in Months

Oil prices surged to their highest levels in months on Thursday, September 10, as escalating Middle East tensions drove Brent crude above $109 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate past $103. The day's sharpest catalyst came when Houthi forces in Yemen struck Saudi Arabia's critical Abqaiq-to-Yanbu East-West pipeline for the first time, with satellite data detecting six simultaneous fire hotspots along the route at around 17:56 UTC. That pipeline is a vital bypass that allows Saudi crude to reach the Red Sea without transiting the Strait of Hormuz, meaning its disruption directly undermines the main contingency route shippers use to avoid Hormuz closure risk.

The pipeline attack capped a day of escalating fear over Hormuz supply disruptions that had already sent Brent up more than 6% to $107.63 before the strike news broke. October WTI crude settled up $6.43, or 6.69%, its highest close in 3.5 months. October RBOB gasoline closed up 18.26 cents, a gain of 5.69%, reaching a two-week high. The United States Oil Fund, which tracks near-month crude futures, hit a fresh 52-week high during Thursday's session.

The oil spike drove inflation fears that rippled across broader markets. The dollar index rose 0.26% as surging crude lifted expectations that the Federal Reserve could be pushed to raise interest rates, while higher Treasury yields added further support to the greenback. Wall Street fell for a fourth consecutive session, with the S&P 500 dropping 0.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing around 340 points.

Natural gas futures settled modestly higher after the Energy Information Administration reported a 40 billion cubic foot weekly storage injection, a fourth straight below-average build, though the figure came in above market expectations. Analysts at the time of reporting described Brent's breach of $105 as a structural repricing of global oil risk rather than a temporary spike, with Goldman Sachs flagging increased probability of a more bullish scenario in which Persian Gulf exports fail to recover quickly.