Donna Dong
Research Analyst, Flux
Brent Trades In $65/bbl Handle
First Venezuelan crude sails direct to the US under 50mb deal; EU backs Russian gas ban by 2027; Urals discounts deepen in India.
The Mar’26 Brent futures contract traded choppily within the $65/bbl handle this afternoon, printing $65.54/bbl at 17:00 GMT (time of writing).
In the news, LSEG data shows that a Trafigura-charted crude tanker departed on Sunday from Venezuela's Jose port for Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, marking the first cargo to go directly to the US as part of a 50mb supply deal agreed this month between Caracas and Washington. The Liberia-flagged tanker Gloria Maris, carrying approximately 1mb of Venezuela's Merey heavy crude, has set sail. Additionally, a smaller tanker, the Barbados-flagged Volans, left Jose on Sunday with about 450kb of Venezuelan crude destined for the Bullen Bay terminal in Curacao. Elsewhere, EU nations gave their final approval to ban Russian gas imports by the end of 2027, committing to end their reliance on their previous primary supplier. The law was approved at a meeting in Brussels on Monday, though Slovakia and Hungary voted against and Bulgaria abstained; Hungary has said that it will challenge the law at the European Court of Justice. In related news, Reuters has reported that Russian February Urals crude oil cargoes traded at nearly the largest discounts against Dated Brent in Indian ports since 2022, due to increased pressure from Western sanctions. Urals oil cargoes scheduled for February delivery are trading at $10/bbl discounts to Dated Brent for Indian ports, representing a $3-5 increase from last autumn's cargo estimates and nearing the record-wide discount. Finally, the front-month (Mar/Apr) and 6-month (Mar/Sep) spreads are at $0.82/bbl and $2.06/bbl, respectively.
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