Brent Hits $106 As Houthis Seize Yemen’s Mocha Port

In the news, the Houthis have seized control of Yemen's port of Mocha, adding a fresh threat to Red Sea traffic, while Gulf traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains restricted as tanker attacks in the region have intensified in recent days. Trump has warned the US may hit Iran's Pickaxe Mountain, near its heavily damaged Natanz enrichment facility, and said the war would likely extend beyond the November midterms. Elsewhere, OPEC oil output fell in August, a Reuters survey found, as the war in Iran disrupted Saudi exports and a US blockade cut Iranian shipments. Crude output from the 11-member group fell 640kb/d m/m to 19.7mb/d. Seven members of the wider OPEC+ group, which includes allies like Russia, had agreed to raise production in August, but the Middle East conflict has made that “impossible”. In Iran, the country has temporarily suspended a 10% freight charge on foreign vessels carrying oil, gas, and LPG imports or exports, as a US naval blockade continues to sharply disrupt the country's seaborne exports. The presidential legal deputy ordered the collection halted until the government approves and publishes a list of products subject to the charge, which noted the levy had raised transport costs — and that suspending it could lower those costs and encourage foreign fleets to keep moving goods to and from Iran. In other news, Petrobras has said that a package of government tax measures will result in a $0.0372/L reduction in gasoline prices for consumers, reversing an earlier announcement that had implied a price hike to distributors. Petrobras initially said it would scrap a 0.44 reais/L discount while effectively raising prices, leaving the distributor price at 3.24reais/L, but issued a correction today clarifying that a fresh government measure would actually lower prices to distributors at its refineries. Finally, as of the time of writing, the front-month (Nov/Dec’26) and 6-month (Nov/May’27) Brent futures spreads are at $4.88/bbl and $20.79/bbl, respectively.

Better bid again in Dated this afternoon, with Balmo DFL trading up to $12.20/bbl. Outrights saw better buying, with 14-18 trading up from $13.80 to $13.90/bbl, and 28-2 Oct CFT trading $7.65, with tradehouse on both sides. Oct/Nov and Oct DFL came off pre-window, with $5.90/bbl sold on the Dated spread and $6.65/bbl trading Oct, before bouncing to reach highs $7.15/bbl. We saw major buyside interest in 21-2 Oct vs Cal Oct and 28-9 Oct v Cal Oct trading $7.10/bbl and $4.35/bbl, respectively.

This afternoon in Brent/Dubai we traded in a large range, up from -$0.70/bbl, to $0.15/bbl and back down to -$0.85/bbl. There was tradehouse and Chinese selling of Oct'26 and Nov'26 Brent/Dubai at the lows, little trading except on screen at the highs. The Oct/Nov'26 spread continued to rally despite being well offered throughout the session, trade and physical flow selling. The boxes also traded range-bound, with no particular flow, if anything slightly more sellside OTC by trade.

In VLSFO, Sing 0.5% spreads and cracks were stronger this afternoon on higher crude, Oct/Nov was bid up from $37.50/mt to $40.50/mt while Oct crack saw real buying in high volume on screen, trading up from $18.35/bbl to $19.15/bbl. It was a similar story for Euro 0.5 which also rallied with crude, Oct/Nov gained a dollar to $17.50/mt and the prompt crack saw consistent buying from $2.45/bbl to $2.75/bbl. 0.5 E/W traded higher from $100/mt to $104/mt.

In HSFO, 380 spreads saw aggressive buying this afternoon and rallied from $30.50/mt up to $35.00/mt, the Oct crack saw similar buyside interest trading up from -$3.35/bbl to -$2.60/bbl. Barge spreads also saw real buying with Oct/Nov trading up from $15.00/mt to $18.00/mt, Oct Barge crack traded up 40c to -$12.70/bbl.

This afternoon in distillates, Sing gasoil spreads rallied, with Oct/Nov'26 lifted from $6.87/bbl up to $9.75/bbl before trading back to $8.75/bbl last. Front E/W was mega bid with potential stopouts, Oct'26 trading from -$102.00/mt up to highs of -$66.00/mt and now at -$74.00/mt. Regrade rallied across the curve, with Dec'26 up to $5.30/bbl, while Q2'27 was lifted up to $2.70/bbl.

Prompt ICE gasoil spreads strengthened, with Oct/Nov'26 moving from $67.50/mt up to $81.50/mt, while Nov'26 cracks rallied $6 to $81.00/bbl. European jet diffs were also a roofer, with Dec'26 trading from $117.00/mt up to $135.00/mt.

Strong afternoon in gasoline. EBOB MOC still better offered but less aggressively so than yesterday afternoon, with the arb trading negative again in the prompt on the back of crack strength, seeing Oct'26 EBOB crack trading up to $32.40/bbl end of window. Arbs better offered this afternoon with selling in Q2'27 at 30.1c/gal - with Q3'27 and Cal crack selling at $23.80/bbl and $21.80/bbl respectively. E/W rallies on the back of the E/W pipeline headline, seeing Oct'26 E/W getting lifted up from -$6.60/bbl to -$4.50/bbl, with Oct/Nov'26 92 being aggressively lifted by trade at $10.00/bbl and $10.50/bbl respectively – where it finds some sell side interest.

This afternoon in NGLs, FEI rallied aggressively alongside crude. FEI flat price traded up to $860.00/mt in Oct'26, with Q1'27 trading at $734.00/mt. The strength in FEI and freight pushed the arb lower, with Oct'26 trading down to -$403.00/mt and Cal to -$220.00/mt. LST was offered with the crude rally, with Oct'26 flat price trading at 88.00c/gal. There was also decent selling in Cal flat price, which helped support LST spreads through the day. Q4/Q1'27 traded at 2.75c/gal and Q1/Q2'27 at 5.875c/gal ahead of stats. Spreads subsequently came off after a bearish stats print for LST, with stocks building by 3 million barrels. US butane was relatively weak, with selling across both C4/C3 and flat price Oct'26 C4/C3 traded at 43.875c/gal, while Q4/Q1'27 traded at 10.00c/gal.