Oil surged over 3% as Yanbu missile attack and Russian refinery strike defy reserve release

Global crude oil futures surged over 3% on Friday as an intercepted missile strike on Saudi Arabia's Yanbu export terminal, fresh Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refining, and persistent US stock draws propelled benchmarks to multi-month highs.

Crude benchmarks rallied aggressively on Friday, breaching key psychological barriers to close out their strongest weekly performance in months. Brent surged $3.94, or 3.72%, to settle at $109.86 a barrel after briefly touching $110, sealing a 4.91% weekly advance. WTI broke above triple digits, climbing $3.44, or 3.51%, to settle at $101.41 a barrel and locking in a 10.41% weekly gain that held the transatlantic Brent–WTI spread at $8.45 a barrel.

Escalating threats to critical energy infrastructure ignited the buying frenzy. A Saudi-led coalition intercepted a ballistic missile targeting the Red Sea port of Yanbu—a crucial conduit designed to bypass the Strait of Hormuz—heightening vulnerability fears across alternative export routes as Kpler warned Gulf tanker flows remained severely curtailed. Upstream anxiety intensified further after Ukrainian drone strikes struck Russia’s Ryazan refinery, knocking out a primary crude-processing unit and further threatening global middle distillate supplies.

Aggressive consumer intervention failed to curb the advance. Market participants shrugged off an International Energy Agency agreement to release over 20 million barrels of emergency diesel and a 17-million-barrel US Strategic Petroleum Reserve exchange offer, viewing both as insufficient against mounting physical deficits. Supported by the Energy Information Administration's 8.6-million-barrel crude drawdown and a 2.5-million-barrel decline in distillates, spot tightness maintained an unyielding floor beneath prompt contracts heading into the weekend.