NEW YORK / RankWire.AI / – Oil prices experienced a significant decline on Monday, pushing the main crude benchmarks to their lowest point in 12 days. The November Brent crude settled at $100.34 a barrel, reflecting a drop of $3.53, or 3.4%. Meanwhile, October West Texas Intermediate fell by $4.52, or 4.51%, to $95.78 per barrel. Both futures reached their lowest levels since September 9 during trading.
Early Tuesday trading saw prices recover after four days of continuous decline. November Brent increased by $1.14, or 1.1%, reaching $101.48 a barrel by 0317 GMT. October WTI rose 87 cents, or 0.9%, to $96.65 as the contract approached its Tuesday expiration. The more active November WTI contract gained 85 cents, closing at $93.22 a barrel.
Saudi Arabia’s oil exports showed signs of recovery following recent disruptions. According to tanker-tracking data, Saudi Aramco loaded around 14 million barrels onto seven supertankers in the Gulf on Sunday. Over six days, Saudi crude shipments through the Strait of Hormuz averaged about 2.9 million barrels per day. This compares to approximately 700,000 barrels daily in August.
Saudi crude exports via Hormuz increase
This week, the United Nations General Assembly in New York refocused attention on U.S.-Iran relations. U.S. President Donald Trump said publicly that he was open to meeting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during the event. Iranian officials stated that Tehran had communicated conditions for renewed negotiations through mediators. As of Tuesday morning, no official meeting between the two presidents had been announced.
Regional tensions persisted alongside the rise in Saudi export flows. Yemen’s Houthis claimed to have attacked Riyadh and a Saudi Aramco facility in Yanbu, a Red Sea city. In Libya, the National Oil Corporation reported that an armed group had closed a valve on the Sharara crude pipeline Monday. The shutdown caused a sharp decline in production at one of Libya’s largest oilfields.
Brent recovers after four days of decline
Libyan authorities stated that the closed valve interrupted the pipeline carrying Sharara crude to Zawiya Port. They also mentioned that technical teams had not been able to reach the affected valve area when the statement was issued. Sharara’s usual production capacity is around 300,000 barrels per day. The disruption added to the market’s supply concerns, which already included shipping conditions across key Middle Eastern export routes.
Brent briefly traded below $100 a barrel on Monday but then recovered to close at $100.34. The early Tuesday rebound kept the international benchmark above that level. WTI also recovered some of its earlier losses. Oil markets remain focused on confirmed export flows, pipeline operations, and developments in major producing countries. Saudi shipments through Hormuz and the disruption at the Sharara pipeline are among the latest verified supply updates.