The Jan’26 Brent futures contract has dipped this morning, from $64.90/bbl at 04:00 GMT to $64.49/bbl at 10:00 GMT (time of writing). In the news, Reuters has reported that Russia’s Lukoil has agreed to sell Lukoil International GmbH, its international unit overseeing the company’s overseas assets, to Gunvor Trading House. Gunvor has since confirmed it was in discussions with Lukoil regarding the potential purchase of Lukoil foreign assets. In India, state-run refiner Indian Oil is seeking 24mb of oil from the Americas for Q1 2026, per a company document reviewed by Reuters. The tender is seeking both low- and high-sulphur crude grades and is set to close on Friday. Elsewhere, South Korean Chief Policy Advisor Kim Yong-beom has released some details of the UK-SK meeting. Although not yet confirmed by Washington, the statement includes a claim of a 10% reduction in Korean import tariffs, lowering them to 15%. In other news, US President Trump has stated via Truth Social that China has agreed to begin the process of purchasing US energy. Trump alluded to purchases from Alaska, though details are unclear. In his post, Trump mentioned that “the Energy teams will be meeting to see if such an Energy Deal can be worked out.” Finally, at the time of writing, the front-month Jan/Feb’26 and 6-month Jan/Jul’26 spreads are at $0.49/bbl and $0.77/bbl, respectively.
