The Feb’26 Brent futures contract failed to maintain strength above the $64.00/bbl handle this afternoon, easing from $64.08/bbl at 15:30 GMT to $63.60/bbl at 16:30 GMT (time of writing). In the news, local Russian emergency centres have reported a fire at Russia’s Azov Sea port of Temryuk, due to a Ukrainian drone attack. The fire occurred at the Maktren-Nafta LPG transhipment terminal, which handles LPG exports from Russian and Kazakh producers. According to Reuters, between January and October 2025, the terminal handled roughly 220kt of LPG. Elsewhere, according to The Officials sources, Kuwait’s Al Zour refinery will be in maintenance until the end of December, rather than the planned 9th of December restart date. Meanwhile, Russian ESPO blend crude loading in December has been traded at a $5-6/bbl discount to ICE Brent in Chinese ports, following a decline in demand as Chinese state refiners ceased buying due to Western sanctions. This discount marks the weakest differential on record. In other news, Reuters reported that the G7 and EU are negotiating to replace a price cap on Russian oil exports with a complete ban on maritime services, aiming to cut the oil revenue that supports Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine. Russia exports over a third of its oil via Western tankers, mainly to India and China, using Western shipping services. The ban would effectively end this trade, which is primarily carried out by EU maritime countries, including Greece, Cyprus, and Malta. In macroeconomics, stronger-than-expected Canadian domestic jobs data has caused the Canadian dollar to strengthen the most in 6 months against the US dollar. Finally, the front-month (Feb/Mar’26) and 6-month (Feb/Aug’26) spreads are at $0.38/bbl and $1.01/bbl, respectively.
