Brent crude was quoted at $112.24 a barrel on Thursday, its highest level since May 18, as escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran drove a fresh risk premium into oil markets.
Hiru News reported that West Texas Intermediate was quoted at $99.54 a barrel over the same period. The move followed comments by US President Donald Trump on Iran, who said that “one way or another, we are going to do something about it.”
Where this sits against the recent run
The level extends a climb this desk has been tracking through October. On 17 October Brent settled at $109.86 — then the highest close since May 19 — after a missile was intercepted near Yanbu and attacks on shipping around the Strait of Hormuz intensified. A $112.24 print reaching back to May 18 is consistent with that earlier marker: it clears a level last seen one day further back.
The WTI figure moves the other way. Brent’s 17 October close was accompanied by WTI at $101.41; the $99.54 quoted now is lower, which would widen the Brent–WTI spread from about $8.45 to roughly $12.70. Hiru does not say whether its two figures are settlement prices or intraday quotes, and that distinction matters — a mid-session quote and a close are different numbers.
The geopolitical backdrop has hardened this week. A drone attack on Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah facility and an order for US embassy staff in Saudi Arabia to leave the country were reported on Thursday, alongside a strike on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam.
Why it matters for Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka imports effectively all of its crude and refined fuel, so the benchmark feeds directly into the import bill, pressure on the rupee and Ceylon Petroleum Corporation pricing. Each dollar on the barrel is a cost the country pays in foreign exchange it has to find.
Not reported
This report rests on a single verified newsroom. Daily Mirror’s breaking-news listing carried no filing on the move at the time of writing, and no other verified outlet reachable from this desk had covered it, so the figures above could not be independently confirmed — including whether they are closes or intraday quotes, and the “highest since May 18” characterisation. No Sri Lankan official has commented, and nothing establishes whether the move will feed into the next CPC price revision or what crude price current retail prices assume.