Brent crude settles at $113.17, up 4%, as Houthis hit Saudi sites; Trump invokes Defense Production Act

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, settled at $113.17 a barrel on Thursday, up 4.00%, and US crude (WTI) at $99.47, up 2.39%, according to CappNotes' closing summary. At 8:12 am IST on Friday, Brent's December contract was at $114.16, up 0.94%, Business Standard reported, and Reuters said it touched $114, a five-month high.

Why: Yemen's Houthis and Saudi Arabia are in open hostilities, with strikes on government sites in Riyadh, a Saudi Aramco site at Yanbu and two airports, and Iran has continued attacking ships near the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow sea lane that much of the world's oil passes through, Investing.com reported. Reports that the US and Israel may take fresh action against Iran added to supply worries.

The US response: President Trump declared petroleum production and refining essential to national defence and invoked part of the Defense Production Act, a Cold War-era law, which lets the government offer financial incentives for oil and gas projects. The aim is to bring down US fuel prices before the 3 November elections, Investing.com reported. New output takes time, so the order does not add barrels immediately.

What it means for India: a higher oil price raises the cost of every barrel India imports. Oil marketers like HPCL, BPCL and IOC see margins squeezed when crude rises faster than pump prices; HPCL's standalone profit fell 9% in July–September, Business Standard reported, as costlier crude hit fuel margins. BPCL reports its results today.

Worked example: at about 94.8 rupees to the dollar, one barrel at $113.17 costs roughly ₹10,731 (113.17 × 94.82), compared with about ₹10,318 at Wednesday's $108.82 settle at the same exchange rate — about ₹412 more per barrel in one day.

Key takeaway: oil is the market's biggest outside risk for India right now; watch Brent alongside the rupee, because both together set India's fuel import bill.