he Jan’26 Brent futures contract has risen this afternoon, from $62.91/bbl at 15:00 GMT to $63.59/bbl at 16:15 GMT. Prices have since eased to $63.34/bbl at 17:00 GMT (time of writing). In the news, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak has stated that Russia is set to reach its OPEC+ oil production quota (~9.5mb/d in November) by early 2026, claiming that recent sanctions on Russian oil majors Rosneft and Lukoil have not impacted production. Novak also claimed that Russia has fully compensated for its previous overproduction and that no voluntary output reduction is being considered at this time. Elsewhere, data from the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI) has shown that Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports have reached a 7-month high in September, reaching 6.5mb/d. JODI data also indicated that world oil demand in September surged by 1.4mb/d, led by higher consumption in the US and Indonesia. In other news, Rosneft has slashed its stake in the Kurdistan Pipeline Company (KPC) to less than 50% to protect it from US sanctions, according to Reuters; an 11% stake was sold to UAE-based DEX Capital. In other news, Reuters sources have reported that TotalEnergies and Chevron are leading the race to purchase a 40% operating stake in Galp’s Mopane discovery in Namibia. Mopane has estimated some 10mb of oil at the discovery, with an auction winner being announced by the end of the year. Finally, at time of writing, the front-month Jan/Feb’26 and 6-month Jan/Jul’26 spreads are at $0.47/bbl and $1.04/bbl, respectively.
