The Feb’26 Brent futures contract initially declined from $60.35/bbl at 14:00 GMT to $59.92/bbl at 16:00 GMT; prices recovered from here to $60.33/bbl at 17:00 GMT (time of writing). In the news, Reuters reported that Ukraine has used aerial drones to target a Russian shadow fleet oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time. The empty Oman-flagged tanker, the Qendil, has reportedly sustained critical damage in neutral waters more than 1,250 miles off the Ukrainian coast. Russia has yet to make an official comment. In other news, Danish shipping company Maersk announced that one of its vessels successfully traversed the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait for the first time in almost two years. While the firm has stated that it does not plan to fully reopen the route, it will take steps to resume navigation gradually. Elsewhere, Bloomberg ship-tracking data indicate that the China-linked Kunpeng LNG carrier has arrived at Portovaya, a small export terminal on the Baltic Sea operated by Russia’s Gazprom. This marks the first instance of a Chinese tanker transporting LNG from the export facility sanctioned by the US. In China, crude oil demand will peak by 2030, according to a new report from the China National Petroleum Corp Economics and Technology Research Institute. Global oil demand is projected to grow longer than anticipated, reaching a peak of roughly 658mb. Finally, at the time of writing, the front-month (Feb/Mar’26) and 6-month (Feb/Aug’26) spreads are at $0.35/bbl and $0.58/bbl, respectively.
