Commodities

Oil Heads Into New Week as Houthis Claim Weekend Strikes on Saudi Oil Sites and Missiles Target Riyadh

Houthis said they targeted an Aramco site in Yanbu, the Rabigh refinery and the East-West Pipeline on Saturday, and Saudi forces downed a missile aimed at Riyadh on Sunday.

Oct 25, 2026 - 12:19

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Oil traders head into the new week with fresh attacks around Saudi Arabia's energy infrastructure to assess. Yemen's Houthis said they targeted Saudi oil facilities on Saturday, and the Saudi-led coalition reported intercepting a ballistic missile aimed at Riyadh on Sunday morning. The weekend developments followed a Friday session in which crude futures reached their highest settlement in nearly six months.

Where prices stood on Friday

Brent crude futures settled at $116.72 a barrel on Friday, October 23, 2026, up $3.55, or 3.14%, their highest close since April 29, Reuters reported. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude closed at $103.27, up $3.80, or 3.8%. Brent finished the week 6% higher and WTI gained 2.3%.

"Fears of supply disruptions drove the advance after Iranian-backed Houthi rebels carried out a series of attacks across Saudi Arabia, including on energy infrastructure," said Adam Turnquist, chief cross-asset strategist for LPL Financial, according to Reuters. The agency also reported that Saudi Aramco had ordered the evacuation of its headquarters in Dhahran on Thursday, and that the United Arab Emirates reported an oil spill from a tanker off the coast of Umm Al Quwain without identifying the vessel or the cause.

Saturday: claims against oil facilities

On Saturday, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group had targeted an Aramco facility in Yanbu, the Rabigh oil refinery, crude oil pumping stations and the East-West Pipeline, along with King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and other airports and an airbase, Reuters reported. The Saudi-led coalition said it destroyed two ballistic missiles fired toward Yanbu and Taif.

Saudi authorities did not comment directly on the Houthi statements, Reuters said, and it was not immediately clear whether any of the reported attacks had hit their targets. Saudi Civil Defense said debris from intercepted missiles fell in the Mecca and Medina regions, including in areas of Jeddah, Taif and Rabigh. The Yanbu and Rabigh sites sit on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast, and the East-West Pipeline carries crude across the kingdom to that coast.

Sunday: interceptions over Riyadh and the south

Coalition spokesman Major-General Turki al-Maliki said on Sunday that forces intercepted and destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile launched toward Riyadh that morning, as well as a drone in the Riyadh region and a cruise missile aimed at Khamis Mushait, Al Jazeera reported. The coalition later reported intercepting 10 ballistic missiles fired toward southern Saudi Arabia. Falling debris in Khamis Mushait and Ahad Rafidah caused two injuries and damaged three residential buildings and seven vehicles, according to Saudi Civil Defence.

The U.S. Mission to Saudi Arabia said in a security alert dated October 25 that, effective October 23, the State Department ordered non-emergency U.S. government employees and their family members to leave the country. It said King Khalid International Airport announced a partial reopening as of October 25.

In remarks to Fox News reported by The Times of Israel on Sunday, President Donald Trump said of Iran: "Do I make a deal with them or do I finish them off? That's the only question." He also said, "We now control the Hormuz Strait." On Friday, Trump said the U.S. could end the war with Iran quickly but that perhaps Washington should allow the conflict to wind down gradually, according to Reuters.

Supply responses and other factors

The U.S. Department of Energy authorized an emergency exchange of up to 400,000 barrels of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to address a supply disruption affecting Phillips 66's Lake Charles refinery in Louisiana, Reuters reported, noting that the reserve is already at its lowest level since 1982. Germany's national oil stockpiling agency EBV circulated a tender to sell diesel, heating oil and crude from strategic reserves, its first such release since G7 countries agreed at the start of October to tap stocks.

In Libya, the head of the National Oil Corp said a pipeline valve from the Hamada and Tahara oilfields to Zawiya port had been shut, reducing output at both fields, according to Reuters. In the United States, the total oil and gas rig count held at 603 in the week ended October 23, unchanged for a second straight week, Baker Hughes said.

Electronic trading in U.S. energy futures resumes on Sunday evening, when markets will give their first reaction to the weekend's events.