Brent breaks below $110, sliding 3.2% in a single session
Brent futures fell $3.68, or 3.2%, to $109.75 a barrel in early Asian trade Monday.
· Last verified: 2 Nov 2026 (Qatar News Agency (QNA), Emirates News Agency (WAM))
Summary
- Brent futures fell $3.68, or 3.2%, to $109.75 a barrel in early Asian trade Monday.
- The drop came a day after OPEC+ left December production quotas unchanged.
- Gulf and Iraqi budget revenues and listed energy equities are priced off this benchmark.
The latest
Brent crude broke below the $110 mark on Monday, 2 November 2026, shedding $3.68 or 3.2% to $109.75 a barrel in early Asian trade. West Texas Intermediate fell $3.43, or 3.3%, to $100.69. The slide arrived one day after the OPEC+ alliance decided to hold its production quotas steady through December, and it reversed part of a run that had closed October at a six-month peak.
Details
- The numbers: Brent futures lost $3.68 in early Asian dealing to settle at $109.75 a barrel, a 3.2% move within a single session. West Texas Intermediate tracked it lower, down $3.43 or 3.3% to $100.69, keeping the spread between the two benchmarks close to $9.
- Deeper later: The decline extended as the session progressed. The financial markets board on the Emirates News Agency website showed Brent at $108.66, down 4.21%, at around 13:40 Gulf time — more than a dollar below the early Asian print and a full percentage point deeper into the red.
- The starting point: Brent had closed October at its highest level in six months, meaning Monday's move came off an elevated base rather than from a depressed one. The $110 line it broke had been the psychological marker for the October rally.
- OPEC+ decision: The producer alliance kept output quotas unchanged for December in a decision taken the day before the sell-off. No additional barrels were added to the market, and no revision to the December schedule was announced alongside the rollover.
- What had supported prices: October's rally was driven by concern over renewed escalation in the Middle East, according to Qatar News Agency. That risk premium was the main factor cited behind crude reaching a six-month high before the Monday reversal.
- The political calendar: US midterm elections were scheduled for Tuesday, placing the oil move one day ahead of a vote that traders were already positioning around. No specific policy outcome was tied to the price action.
- Why the Gulf cares: Brent is the benchmark against which Gulf and Iraqi oil revenues are calculated and against which energy shares listed on regional exchanges are valued. A 3% single-session move resets the per-barrel assumption underpinning both.
- The two readings: Monday's price carried two separate figures depending on the hour: $109.75 in early Asian trade per Qatar News Agency, and $108.66 later in the day per the Emirates News Agency board. Both describe the same downward session at different points.
Background
Brent and WTI are the two reference crudes for global pricing. OPEC+ sets collective production quotas on a monthly cycle; holding them unchanged keeps supply flat, leaving price direction to demand expectations and geopolitical risk pricing.
Between the lines
The sequence matters: prices climbed through October on Middle East escalation fears, then fell sharply the day after OPEC+ declined to add supply. A decision that withholds barrels would ordinarily support prices, so the drop points away from the supply side and toward an unwinding of the risk premium that had carried Brent to its six-month high.
What's next
Tuesday's US midterm elections and whether Brent holds above or below the $110 line in subsequent sessions. The next OPEC+ production decision covering the period after December is the following scheduled supply signal.