The Jan’26 Brent futures contract eased this afternoon, from $64.25/bbl at 14:00 GMT to $64.01/bbl at 16:45 GMT (time of writing). In the news, Reuters has reported that Rosneft’s Ryazan oil refinery (capacity 340kb/d) has halted its crude processing after a Ukrainian drone strike last weekend. According to Reuters sources, the refinery is expected to be offline until the end of the month, and no oil loadings are scheduled until after 01 December. Elsewhere, Reuters has also reported that crude loadings at Russia’s Novorossiysk port are 2-3 days delayed due to damage on a key jetty at the facility from a Ukrainian attack. Damages were reported at berth 1 and 1A, which both handle 140kt Suezmax tankers; the former continues to remain idle. In a Bloomberg report, Chinese imports of Russian and Iranian oil are set to drop this month as sanctions continue to disrupt global flows. Estimates by Rystad Energy, as cited by Bloomberg, suggest that imports from Russia could drop 800kb/d in November, while Chinese imports of Iranian crude could drop by roughly 30% in November compared to previous months. In other news, Ukrainian private energy firm DTEK announced that it delivered its first US LNG shipment via the northern route from Lithuania, as Ukraine seeks to diversify its gas import sources. Once re-gasified, the gas will then head to Eastern European markets, including Ukraine and Poland. Finally, at time of writing, the front-month Jan/Feb’26 and 6-month Jan/Jul’26 spreads are at $0.40/bbl and $0.93/bbl, respectively.
