Riyadh explosions send oil above $105 as Florida braces for higher gas, travel costs

Explosions in the Saudi capital on Thursday morning sent crude oil prices sharply higher and pulled U.S. stock futures down, a fresh shock for Florida drivers, airlines and cruise lines that arrives just as Hurricane Isaias forces oil companies to shut in a quarter of U.S. Gulf of Mexico production ahead of a Panhandle landfall. Brent crude, the international benchmark, jumped 5% to $105.16 a barrel in early trading, and benchmark U.S. crude rose 5.1% to $92.75, according to The Associated Press.

For Florida, the timing is awkward. AAA reported on Sunday, Oct. 4, that the statewide average for regular gasoline had fallen 29 cents in a week to $4.08 a gallon, the lowest in nearly four weeks. By Thursday, AAA's daily state survey listed Florida's average at about $4.18, and analysts are now watching whether the Riyadh blasts and the storm in the Gulf push pump prices back up into the weekend.

What happened in Riyadh on Thursday

Several explosions were heard in Riyadh on Thursday, including a large blast at King Khalid International Airport, a witness told the AP. Flight tracker Flightradar24 reported that the airport had closed again. Diplomats were told to shelter in place at their embassies, and witnesses said international schools were taking precautions. CBS News reported that at least one school moved children to a basement and that some companies evacuated staff from the King Abdullah Financial District.

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed the attack. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a post on X that a ballistic missile struck the airport accurately and disrupted air traffic, but the group offered no evidence. The Saudi-led coalition's spokesman, Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, said coalition forces intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles aimed at Riyadh and a third fired toward Khamis Mushait in the kingdom's southwest. Saudi Arabia had no immediate comment on the Houthi claim, and there was no immediate official word on damage or casualties from Thursday's blasts.

Thursday's attack capped a violent week for Saudi aviation. Saudi aviation authorities said Houthi attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday killed three people and wounded dozens: two dead and 28 injured at Abha airport in the southwest, and one dead and eight injured at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, according to CBS News. The coalition said it responded by striking 82 Houthi military targets across four Yemeni provinces.

How this differs from the Sept. 19 depot strike

Thursday's explosions are a separate incident from the Sept. 19 attack near the same airport. In that earlier strike, a fire broke out at a jet fuel depot near King Khalid International Airport, where firefighters put out a blaze on a fuel tank bearing the Aramco logo. The coalition said then that a ballistic missile fired at Riyadh at dawn had been intercepted, Flightradar24 rated the airport's disruption at its maximum level, and no casualties were reported. Saudi authorities did not publicly explain what started the fire.

The September strike hit fuel storage. This week's attacks have targeted the airport itself, have caused deaths, and are part of a broader escalation that began in July, when the Houthis declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia.

Oil and markets: the numbers

The early Thursday market moves reported by the AP are summarized below.

The Riyadh blasts were not the only factor. CBS News reported that oil also climbed after The Atlantic reported Wednesday that the White House had asked the Pentagon to prepare strike options against Iran before the Nov. 3 midterm elections. Higher energy costs are feeding inflation worries: the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury hit a 24-year high of 5.36% on Wednesday and hovered near 5.35% on Thursday, according to the AP.

The jump reverses part of a recent easing. Brent had slipped below $100 at points earlier in the week as Middle East exports recovered, and Saudi Arabia cut crude prices for Asian buyers on Monday. The U.S. Energy Information Administration this week raised its fourth-quarter Brent forecast to an average of $105 a barrel, citing constrained Middle East exports, higher shipping costs and shrinking inventories. The U.S. Department of Energy has also issued a request for proposals to release up to 40 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the final tranche of a 172-million-barrel coordinated drawdown President Donald Trump authorized in March.

What it means at Florida pumps

Florida has no oil refineries and relies on gasoline shipped by tanker and barge into ports such as Port Tampa Bay, Port Everglades and Jacksonville, so the state's pump prices track wholesale fuel and crude markets closely. AAA's recent figures show how quickly those prices have swung.

AAA attributed the late-September drop to a nearly 10% slide in crude prices over two weeks, which it tied to the Group of Seven's decision to release 100 million barrels from emergency reserves and to improving oil exports from the Middle East. Some Florida markets had dipped below $4, including Tampa-St. Petersburg at $3.96, Orlando at $3.98 and Pensacola at $3.92 in AAA's Oct. 4 report. Crude's rebound this week threatens that relief.

Even before Thursday, Florida drivers were paying far more than a year ago. The state average in early October 2025 was roughly $3.04 a gallon. For a state where most residents and many of its millions of visitors get around by car, every 10-cent move at the pump ripples through household budgets and tourism spending.

Hurricane Isaias adds a second supply squeeze

Isaias strengthened into the first hurricane of the 2026 Atlantic season late Wednesday. As of the National Hurricane Center's 7 a.m. CDT advisory Thursday, it had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph and was moving east-northeast at about 9 mph, with a hurricane warning in effect from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the Bay/Gulf County line in Florida. Forecasters expect landfall on the northern Gulf Coast late Friday or early Saturday.

Offshore operators began shutting in output as the storm approached. By midday Wednesday, about 511,619 barrels per day of oil, roughly 25% of Gulf of Mexico production, and about 350 million cubic feet per day of natural gas had been taken offline, according to figures from the federal offshore regulator reported by the Anadolu news agency. Personnel had been evacuated from eight production platforms. Shell said it was evacuating staff and shutting in production at five facilities, including Mars, Olympus, Ursa, Vito and Appomattox, and Chevron began shutdown procedures at four of its operated facilities. Operators typically inspect platforms before restarting once a storm clears.

Storm-related shut-ins are usually temporary, but they arrive while global supply is already strained. Panhandle residents preparing for Isaias may also see local fuel demand spike as they fill tanks and generators before the storm.

Airlines and cruise lines feel it first

Jet fuel typically accounts for 25% to 30% of an airline's operating costs, and Florida's big airports, including Orlando International, Miami International and Tampa International, are heavily dependent on leisure travel that is sensitive to fares. U.S. jet fuel prices more than doubled after the Iran war began on Feb. 28, climbing from about $2.50 a gallon to $4.88 by early April, according to CNBC. Prices had eased to about $2.80 a gallon by June, according to tracking firm Argus as cited by NPR, but airlines did not cut fares or bag fees to match. Another crude spike would add pressure heading into the winter season, when Florida's airports handle their heaviest traffic.

The three largest cruise companies, Carnival Corp., Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, are all based in Miami, and fuel is one of their largest costs. Carnival, which does not hedge fuel, reported on Sept. 29 that fuel prices and currency rates had a combined unfavorable impact of about $131 million on its fiscal third quarter, even as it posted record results and cut fuel consumption per berth day by 3.8%. In March, the company estimated that a 10% change in fuel costs would move its 2026 net income by $156 million; Royal Caribbean put its comparable figure at $57 million, according to reporting by FOX 35 Orlando. Norwegian has said a 10% change would cut its full-year earnings by about 7 cents a share.

What's next

Markets will be watching for official Saudi confirmation of damage at King Khalid International Airport, whether the airport reopens, and whether the Houthis carry out further strikes on Saudi energy infrastructure, including the East-West pipeline that has only recently returned to near-normal flows. Any move by Washington on the reported Iran strike options would be another major price driver.

Closer to home, the National Hurricane Center issues full advisories on Isaias every six hours, and Gulf producers will report restart timelines once the storm passes. AAA publishes daily state averages at gasprices.aaa.com and a weekly Florida report, which will show whether Thursday's crude spike reaches Florida pumps.