The Jan’26 Brent futures contract rose this afternoon, from $63.93/bbl at 14:00 GMT to $64.55/bbl at 17:00 GMT (time of writing). In the news, a Reuters survey shows that OPEC’s oil output increased by 30kb/d m/m in October, although the growth rate slowed compared to September. In Nigeria, the country’s national oil company (NNPC) is set to raise oil production to 2mb/d within the next two years, according to the executive vice president for upstream, Udy Ntia. In other news, Reuters sources have reported that Russian oil giant Lukoil is having difficulty maintaining its international operations as Western sanctions disrupt oil loadings in Iraq, pump stations in Finland, and trading in Switzerland. Lukoil’s Geneva-based trading arm, Litasco, has reportedly struggled to charter ships as UK-based shipbrokers have refused to cooperate after Western sanctions. Further, employee layoffs have also been reported at Litasco. Elsewhere, a document seen by Reuters has revealed that a major fuel supplier in Turkey has informed its clients that its diesel prices will rise, citing Western sanctions on Russian oil; the supplier was not named. Finally, at time of writing, the front-month Jan/Feb’26 and 6-month Jan/Jul’26 spreads are at $0.38/bbl and $0.75/bbl, respectively.
