The Jan’26 Brent futures contract rose this morning, from $63.65/bbl at 07:15 GMT to $64.05/bbl at 10:30 GMT (time of writing). In the news, Reuters trade sources have stated that India’s Reliance has purchased 1mb of heavy crude from Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC). This follows KPC’s tender to sell crude oil that its Al-Zour refinery cannot process due to unplanned maintenance following a fire in late October. Loading of 500kb of Kuwait crude is expected on 06-07 December, while the remaining barrels are of Eocene crude for 08-09 December loading. In related news, KPC has also signed a deal for a $4.89bn syndicated loan from the National Bank of Kuwait and Kuwait Finance House to boost its oil output, targeting 4mb/d by 2035. KPC CEO Sheikh Nawaf Saud Al-Sabah stated that the loan will support the company’s efforts to diversify its funding sources. Elsewhere, China’s crude oil storage is estimated to have increased in October, by roughly 690kb/d (+570kb m/m), according to Reuters calculations based on official data. October crude imports (11.39mb/d) and domestic output (4.24mb/d) appear to have outweighed an increase in refinery processing (14.94mb/d, +6.4% m/m), per Reuters. Finally, the front-month Jan/Feb’26 and 6-month Jan/Jul’26 spreads are at $0.42/bbl and $0.89/bbl, respectively.
