Oil Settles Mixed as Shipping Risks Temper Optimism About Flows

A facts-only brief, written by a local AI model from this article in The Wall Street Journal, October 21, 2026. It may contain mistakes, and it is not the article: the full story is at wsj.com.

Crude oil futures ended the session mixed, with December WTI declining 0.7% to $97.15 per barrel and Brent settling nearly unchanged at $108.82. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a weekly draw of 3.1 million barrels in U.S. crude stocks, which exceeded expectations, while distillate inventories unexpectedly increased by 1.7 million barrels. Gasoline stocks decreased by 3 million barrels during the same period. These inventory changes occurred alongside ongoing concerns regarding shipping security in the Persian Gulf.

Background

• Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stated that two non-compliant oil tankers struck mines in the Strait of Hormuz, according to ANZ Research analysts.
• Kpler ship tracking data indicates that at least 18 vessels have been hit in the region over the past two weeks.
• MUFG analyst Soojin Kim noted that oil markets retained recent gains despite diplomatic headlines between Iran and the United States.
• Earlier American Petroleum Institute data suggested a larger weekly drop in U.S. crude stocks of 4.9 million barrels before the official EIA release.

Read the full article at wsj.com

More from Wednesday, October 21: