The Feb’26 Brent futures contract fell from $60.62/bbl at 19.30 GMT, dropping overnight to break below $60.00/bbl this morning at $59.50/bbl at 10.09 GMT (time of writing). China increased crude oil buying for storage last month, with a surplus of about 1.88 mb/d left after refining, according to Reuters’ Clyde Russell. Domestic production and imports both rose, while refiners processed 14.86 mb/d, up 3.9% year on year. China has been steadily building its oil inventories since March, with stockpiling averaging about 980 kb/d over the first 11 months of the year. Weak Chinese economic data added to market pressure, raising concerns that global demand may struggle to absorb the recent surge in supply, according to IG analyst Tony Sycamore. Factory output growth fell to a 15-month low, while retail sales expanded at their slowest pace since December 2022. Russia and Pakistan are discussing a potential oil-sector agreement covering exploration, production and refining, according to Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb. Talks are being handled by both countries’ energy ministries and include possible upgrades to a Pakistani refinery with Russian company involvement. The European Union imposed new sanctions on oil traders and entities linked to Russia’s shadow shipping fleet, aiming to curb Moscow’s ability to bypass Western restrictions on crude exports. Those targeted include oil trader Murtaza Lakhani, individuals linked to Lukoil’s Dubai trading arm, and figures associated with Coral Energy, renamed 2Rivers Group, for facilitating Russian oil shipments. The measures ban EU citizens from doing business with the listed parties and are expected to expand to dozens more vessels, though Russia said the sanctions would be ineffective and harm EU economies. At the time of writing, the front-month Feb/Mar’26 and 6-month Feb/Aug’26 spreads are at $0.18/bbl and -$0.03/bbl, respectively.
