The Dec’25 Brent futures contract gapped up from yesterday’s close of $63.50/bbl to $64.12/bbl at today’s open. Prices have continued rallying, reaching $65.82/bbl at 12:00 BST (time of writing). In the news, US President Trump announced new sanctions on Russian oil giants Lukoil and Rosneft in efforts to tighten Moscow’s revenue for funding its war in Ukraine. The US Treasury has given firms until 21 November to unwind transactions with the Russian producers. According to Reuters, the sanctions followed a Russian nuclear arms training drill and are a deviation from more conciliatory approaches to Ukrainian peacekeeping. Following the sanctions, Reuters has reported that Indian refiners are now poised to cut Russian oil, with privately-owned Reliance Industries planning to halt its imports. Indian state refiners are also reportedly re-examining their trade flows to ensure that no imports will come from Lukoil or Rosneft. In Europe, the EU has formally adopted its 19th package of Russian sanctions, including bans on Russian LNG imports. In an X post, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that sanctions also target Russian banks and the movement of Russian diplomats in the EU. Following EU sanctions, suppliers have reportedly cancelled sales to China’s Yulong Petrochemical (capacity 400kb/d), as per a Reuters report; among those suspending sales is BP, TotalEnergies, and Saudi Aramco. This move is likely to increase Chinese purchasing of Russian crude. Finally, at time of writing, the front-month Dec/Jan’26 and 6-month Dec/Jun’26 spreads are at $0.67/bbl and $1.88/bbl, respectively.
