Brent price reports diverge, with estimates ranging from $105 to $108 a barrel

Fortune and the IEA report Brent near $107-108 a barrel Friday, even as USO, the crude oil fund, is down 0.55% at $156.44 a share

Brent crude is trading near $107 a barrel on Friday, according to Fortune, which put the price at $108.51 at 7:45 a.m. Eastern, up $1.84 from the prior morning. Trading Economics, however, reported Brent at $105.26 on Friday, down 0.63% from Thursday, and Investing.com showed the benchmark near $105.92 as of Wednesday's close.

The International Energy Agency said in its October Oil Market Report that Brent futures have risen 13% since the start of September to around $107 a barrel. The agency linked the move to an escalation in attacks on Middle East energy infrastructure and tanker traffic, including increased Houthi attacks in October, which it said threatens to derail a supply recovery that had brought Gulf crude exports close to pre-war levels in September.

The level cited by Fortune and the IEA would mark a fresh push beyond the $105.38 high and the $3 intraday swing seen in late September, reversing a drift lower that followed talk of European diesel and crude releases in early October. Investing.com's historical data shows Brent closing at $106.65 on October 12 with an intraday high of $107.33, before falling to $105.69 on October 13 and $105.92 on October 15, against a 52-week high of $108.59.

If the higher prices reported by Fortune and the IEA hold rather than fade as prior spikes have, it would break a pattern in which headline-driven gains reversed once infrastructure concerns or diplomatic talks stabilized. That pattern included the skepticism that met an earlier report of a Saudi pipeline attack. For now, renewed supply anxiety over the region appears to be outweighing the diplomatic and flow-easing narratives that had capped prices through early October, though the scale of Friday's move itself remains unsettled between data providers.