The front-month (Nov’25) Brent futures contract oscillated between $68.10/bbl and $68.35/bbl this afternoon. At the time of writing (17:48 BST), it sits at the lower end of this range, at $68.10/bbl. Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted 20 world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at a summit in the Chinese port city of Tianjin for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. After the summit, Modi and Putin had a bilateral meeting amid increased uncertainty regarding India’s purchases of Russian crude oil in the face of tariff threats by the US. In other news, French major TotalEnergies has been awarded an exploration permit for a 1,000 square km area in the Nzombo region, off the coast of the Republic of Congo. TotalEnergies has stated it will operate the area with a 50% stake, with QatarEnergy holding a further 35% and Congo’s NOC SNPC holding the remaining 15%. In addition, Angola’s planned 30kb/d Cabinda oil refinery will begin producing refined fuel by the end of 2025, as per the nation’s oil and gas minister. Gemcorp, a London-based investment firm in emerging markets, is the largest shareholder in the plant and has previously reported that the first phase would supply 5-10% of the country’s fuel needs. Equinor will pump nearly $1 billion into Orsted’s emergency fundraising, following the latter’s rights issue amid sustained attacks on offshore wind projects from the Trump administration. Finally, at the time of writing, the front-month (Nov/Dec’25) and six-month (Nov/May’25) Brent futures spreads sit at $0.63/bbl and $1.60/bbl, respectively.
