The Feb’26 Brent futures contract has traded in the $59/bbl handle this afternoon, briefly breaking to $60.02/bbl at 14:00 GMT before settling to $59.84/bbl at 17:20 GMT (time of writing). In the news, the US has extended a waiver permitting oil exports from Russia’s Sakhalin-2 project until 18 June 2026, likely ensuring the continuation of LNG production from the project. The granted general license is crucial for US ally Japan, which imports roughly 9% of its LNG from Russia. In the UK, Britain has included Egypt’s Zohr gas field, which Russian oil giant Rosneft owns a 30% stake in, in its list of projects exempt from Russia sanctions. The license granted now allows for financial transactions and business operations linked to Zohr until October 2027; no official reason for the exemption was given. Elsewhere, worker strikes at Brazil’s Petrobras have reached all offshore oil platforms in the Campos basin. The state-run company has continued to reassure that, thus far, the strikes have had no impact on oil production. In other news, Venezuela’s PDVSA has restarted oil cargo shipments at its terminals after a cyberattack disrupted its centralised administrative systems. A company source revealed that the state-owned oil company identified a ransomware attack several days ago and reported that workers are now using manual records of deliveries to avoid more severe disruptions. In related news, at least two tankers loaded with Venezuelan oil byproducts, including methanol and petroleum coke, have left from Jose, the largest port in the OPEC country, according to ship tracking data and internal documents from PDVSA. Finally, the front-month Feb/Mar’26 and 6-month Feb/Aug’26 spreads are at $0.27/bbl and $0.29/bbl, respectively.
