The Dec’25 Brent futures contract rallied this morning before retreating, from $64.36/bbl at 02:00 BST to $64.73/bbl at 07:00 BST and down to $64.40/bbl at 11:00 BST (time of writing). In the news, a large fire was reported at Chevron’s 290kb/d El Segundo refinery Thursday night. Allison Cook, a spokesperson for Chevron, said that no injuries were reported. Local media has contained the fire, though it is not yet clear what caused the explosion in the first place. Elsewhere, Poland has announced that its plans to link with a NATO pipeline network will cost roughly $5.5bn, with the ministry and Polish pipeline operator (PERN) signing a preliminary deal to extend the country’s fuel pipelines. In other news, an Iraqi government official has been quoted saying that Iraq could increase its crude oil exports by roughly 250kb/d, as its local consumption redirects its demand to solar power projects. In the US, an anonymous official told Bloomberg that the Trump administration is working towards keeping Kurdistan oil exports flowing to Turkey. The administration hopes to push these export flows to support both the Iraqi economy and US companies operating in Iraq. Finally, at time of writing, the front-month Dec/Jan’26 and 6-month Dec/Jun’26 spreads are at $0.32/bbl and $0.66/bbl respectively.
