The Feb’26 Brent Futures contract rallied from $59.56/bbl at 12:11 GMT to $60.30/bbl at 16:35 GMT. Prices have since softened to $60.08 at 17:30 GMT (time of writing). In the news, BP has appointed Woodside Energy CEO Meg O’Neill as its next chief executive, marking the company’s first external leader in over a century and the first woman to head a top-five oil major. O’Neill, an Exxon veteran and current Woodside chief, will take over in April after Murray Auchincloss’s abrupt exit. Her appointment comes as BP pivots back to oil and gas, plans $20 Bn in divestments by 2027, and faces investor pressure to boost profitability after years of underperformance against rivals like Exxon. In other news, ADNOC secured $11 Bn in structured financing to monetize future gas output from its Hail and Ghasha project after Russia’s Lukoil exited due to sanctions. Partnering with Eni and PTTEP, the deal uses a pre-export finance model backed by future gas sales, marking the first greenfield gas-based structure of its kind. The funding advances ADNOC’s strategy to expand globally and develop low-carbon gas capacity targeting 1.8 bcf per day by decade’s end. West African crude sellers face challenges offloading up to 26 December-January cargoes from Nigeria and Angola amid a global oil surplus, pushing Brent below $60/bbl. Around 20 million barrels of Nigerian oil and 5-6 Angolan cargoes remain unsold, delaying February trading. Competition from cheaper Middle East, Russian, Argentine, and Brazilian supplies, displaces West African grades in China and India, exacerbated by Dangote refinery maintenance. Finally, the front-month Feb/Mar and 6-month Feb/Aug spreads are at $0.31/bbl and $0.47/bbl respectively.
