Economy 3 min read By Alice Ashford
Oil trades near $110 a barrel as Brent holds above last year's level
Brent crude was trading at $110.45 a barrel on the morning of November 3, 2026, down $2.15 from the previous day and roughly $45 higher than a year earlier.
Brent crude was trading at $110.45 a barrel at 6:45 a.m. Eastern Time on November 3, 2026, according to market data. The price was $2.15 below the previous morning's level and about $45 higher than where it stood a year ago, when it was near $65.41 a barrel.
The figures show a sharp year-on-year rise, though the day-to-day move was a fall of about 1.9 per cent. Against a month earlier, when the price stood at $106.48, the benchmark has climbed by roughly 3.7 per cent. The article notes that no one can say with certainty where oil prices will go next, since the market is shaped by many forces but at its core remains a question of supply and demand.
Brent is the main global oil benchmark because it prices a large share of the world's traded crude. West Texas Intermediate serves as the main benchmark for North America. The U.S. Energy Information Administration relies on Brent as its primary reference in its Annual Energy Outlook, which is why it is widely used to track oil's historical trends.
Crude oil is the single largest component of what drivers pay at the pump, often making up more than half the cost per gallon. The rest reflects refining, wholesaling, taxes and the markup added by local stations. When oil prices rise, petrol prices usually follow quickly, while falls tend to pass through more slowly, a pattern sometimes described as « rockets and feathers ».
Oil and natural gas are two of the world's primary energy sources, and a sizeable move in oil can ripple into gas markets. If oil becomes more expensive, some industries may switch to natural gas where possible for parts of their operations, lifting demand for gas.
Oil's history over several decades has been volatile. Prices rose sharply in the early 1970s after Middle Eastern producers cut exports and imposed an embargo during the Yom Kippur War. They fell in the mid-1980s as demand weakened and non-OPEC producers entered the market. They surged again in 2008 before crashing with the global financial crisis, and during the 2020 COVID lockdown demand plummeted, pushing prices below $20 a barrel.
The price of oil changes constantly while futures markets are open, since futures contracts are effectively auctions in which buyers and sellers agree to trade oil at a future date. Expensive oil also tends to feed into broader inflation, raising the cost of energy for households and of shipping goods from warehouses and farms to shops. The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a government stockpile of crude, exists mainly to protect energy security during emergencies such as sanctions, severe storm damage or war, and can help cushion supply shocks, though it is not intended to solve long-term problems.
Source: fortune.com
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