The Jan’26 Brent futures contract has eased slightly this morning, from $65/bbl at 08:30 GMT to $64.56/bbl at 10:30 GMT (time of writing). In the news, Reuters reported that Indian Oil Corp has purchased five cargoes of Russian oil scheduled to arrive in December, from non-sanctioned entities. According to Reuters sources, the IOC has purchased approximately 3.5mb of ESPO for delivery at an Eastern Indian port, though the sellers were not named. Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia may lower its December crude prices for Asian customers to their lowest levels in several months, due to an abundance of supplies. However, Reuters sources think that the demand to substitute sanctioned Russian energy could restrict the extent of these cuts. According to a Reuters survey, multiple Asia-based refining sources expect the December Arab Light crude price to fall by $1.20-$1.50/bbl, narrowing its premium over Oman/Dubai to 0.70-$1.00/bbl, down from $2.20/bbl. In Budapest, Hungarian PM Viktor Orban has said on state radio that he will need to convince US President Trump that Hungary is exposed to pipeline networks when it comes to energy, in hopes of gaining an exemption from US sanctions on Russian oil; a meeting between the leaders is scheduled for 7 November. In other news, Reuters reports that Russia-backed Nayara Energy in India has increased crude processing at its Vadinar refinery to 90-93% of its 400kb/d capacity after EU sanctions disrupted earlier operations. Finally, at the time of writing, the front-month Jan/Feb’26 and 6-month Jan/Jul’26 spreads are at $0.55/bbl and $0.87/bbl, respectively.
