EnergyNow Morning Oil Price Report

Report Date & Time: October 5, 2026 – 5:28 a.m. MDT – Using Trading View Prices

See Up-To-Date Prices Here

Summary

• WTI crude is trading around US$90.62 per barrel, down US$0.49, or 0.54%, from Friday’s official settlement of US$91.11. Oil is modestly lower as rising Middle East exports and the G7 emergency-stock release increase available supply. Reuters
• Brent crude is trading around US$102.30 per barrel, up US$0.05, or 0.05%, from Friday’s US$102.25 settlement — effectively flat. Brent continues to receive support from attacks and threats to energy infrastructure and shipping routes in the Middle East. Reuters
• The market is balancing improving crude availability against persistent logistical and refined-product shortages. Middle East exports recently exceeded pre-war levels on several days, but diesel and other refined products remain tight and geopolitical risks around Hormuz and the Red Sea remain elevated. Reuters

Latest Oil Prices

As of approximately 5:28 a.m. MDT Monday, WTI was around US$90.62 per barrel, compared with Friday’s official settlement of $91.11. That puts WTI US$0.49 lower, or 0.54%, making the U.S. benchmark modestly lower.

Brent was approximately US$102.30, versus Friday’s $102.25 settlement — an increase of just US$0.05, or 0.05%. Brent is therefore essentially flat. Reuters independently reported those same Monday-morning levels at 0900 GMT. Reuters

There is no material rollover distortion in today’s comparison. WTI is on the November 2026 contract, while Brent is on December 2026. Each current quote is being compared with Friday’s settlement for its respective contract.

The Brent-WTI premium is approximately US$11.68 per barrel.

Why Oil Is Moving

The biggest downward influence is improving Middle Eastern crude availability.

Exports from the region rose above pre-war levels on four of the final seven days of September, according to shipping data cited by Reuters. That recovery is significant because the market spent much of 2026 pricing severe disruption to supplies moving through and around the Strait of Hormuz.

Additional barrels are also coming from emergency inventories. G7 countries agreed Friday to release 100 million barrels of crude and diesel and pledged not to impose energy-export restrictions. The International Energy Agency is coordinating the release. TradingView

Those developments are putting downward pressure on crude.

But the supply picture is far from normal. Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said Monday that rebuilding depleted global crude and fuel inventories could take up to two years. He estimated roughly three billion barrels of supply have been lost during the conflict, with about one billion barrels drawn from inventories.

Key Market Risks or Catalysts

The Middle East remains the dominant upside risk.

The Houthis say they have launched missiles and drones against Saudi Aramco facilities in Riyadh and Khurais following Saudi-led strikes in Yemen. Reuters said there had been no Saudi confirmation of those attacks at the time of publication.

Yemeni government forces have also launched operations against Houthi positions near the strategically important Bab el-Mandeb Strait, adding another potential threat to tanker movements.

Meanwhile, the global refined-product market remains unusually tight. ICE gasoil prices were up more than 4% Monday. China’s suspension of product exports is contributing to tight Asian supplies, while Russian refinery disruptions continue to affect diesel availability.

Reuters analysis estimates freight rates on some Middle East-to-Asia tanker routes have surged from roughly $30,000 to as much as $1.2 million per day, illustrating how logistics — rather than simply the availability of crude — have become a major component of delivered oil costs.

Bottom Line

Oil is beginning the week relatively calmly despite enormous underlying volatility.

WTI is modestly lower near $90.62 while Brent is essentially unchanged near $102.30.

Recovering Middle East exports and the G7’s 100-million-barrel emergency release are adding supply and limiting crude prices. But tight diesel markets, elevated tanker costs, attacks on energy infrastructure and continuing Middle East hostilities are preventing a more significant selloff.

The key question this week is whether improving crude flows can begin rebuilding inventories faster than geopolitical and refining disruptions consume them.

Western Canadian Select (WCS)

The latest available WCS assessment is from Friday, October 2. WCS for November delivery at Hardisty settled at a US$24.65-per-barrel discount to WTI, according to Calgary brokerage CalRock. Friday’s corresponding official WTI settlement was US$91.11, implying an approximate outright WCS value of US$66.46 per barrel.

On Thursday, October 1, the WCS discount was US$24.10 per barrel. The differential therefore widened by US$0.55 per barrel on Friday, from $24.10 to $24.65 — a further deterioration in relative Canadian heavy-oil pricing.

Because Canadian physical crude markets have not yet established a Monday closing assessment, Friday’s $66.46 WCS value and $24.65 differential should not be combined with Monday morning’s $90.62 WTI quote to manufacture a current WCS price or spread. The WCS figure above is explicitly Friday’s synchronized comparison.

Who Watches the WCS Price

Oil sands producers realize WCS-linked prices on unhedged production, and their capital plans key off the differential outlook. US Midwest and Gulf Coast refiners with coking capacity buy WCS as feedstock and treat the differential as their margin opportunity. The Alberta government forecasts royalty and tax revenue directly off WCS — a one-dollar move in the differential is worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the provincial budget over a fiscal year. And diluent demand links WCS volumes back to condensate markets.