Brent heads for steepest weekly fall since 2020 as Iran de-escalation hopes grow

Oil prices ended a historic week on Friday, 6 November, with Brent crude for January settling at $98.32 a barrel (+3 cents) and US WTI at $90.83 (+31 cents), Reuters reported.

The week in numbers

• Brent was on track for a 17% weekly decline, the steepest percentage fall since the start of the COVID pandemic and the largest in absolute terms in LSEG data going back to 1988.
• WTI was heading for a 13% weekly drop.
• Even so, oil remains about 64% higher than at the start of 2026, and natural gas is nearly three times its January level, according to Reuters.

Why prices fell — and why they ticked up

Investors read the Democratic sweep of Congress as raising the chances of de-escalation in the Iran war and more crude exports from the Gulf. Spot premiums for Middle Eastern grades have also fallen back to pre-conflict levels, a sign of looser supply, Reuters noted.

Prices edged up late on Friday after President Donald Trump said he would soon decide whether to pursue a peace deal with Iran or “destroy what remains” of it, and after fresh tanker attacks in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. Rystad analyst Janiv Shah said the market was “loosening to a state of oversupply”, while noting logistical workarounds near Hormuz.

Analysts quoted by Reuters warn that elevated energy costs could keep inflation high even as growth slows.