Brent oil tops $100 as Iran conflict chokes global supply

Oil prices powered higher on October 1, 2026, with Brent crude reaching $103.86 a barrel by mid-morning in New York, up $1.30 on the day and roughly $37.90 above a year earlier. The OPEC reference basket averaged $110.81 in September, up sharply from $86.42 in August. Prices are being sustained by the U.S.–Iran conflict and a naval blockade of Iranian ports that has triggered the biggest single oil supply disruption on record, cutting more than 10 million barrels a day from global flows and briefly pushing Brent above $118 earlier in the year. Natural gas prices have spiked, especially in Europe, feeding into inflation across the eurozone and the UK. Major OPEC+ members signalled they would keep November production quotas unchanged as they awaited President Trump's next move in the Gulf, leaving consumers facing sharply higher petrol and heating bills heading into winter.