The Mar’25 Brent futures contract has seen steady support this afternoon, increasing from around $76.40/bbl at 1200 GMT up to $77.20/bbl at 1725 GMT (time of writing). In the news today, Saudi Arabia’s crude oil supply is set to decline in February m/m, with Saudi Aramco projected to ship about 43.5mb of crude oil to China, down from January’s 46mb. China’s state majors CNOOC and PetroChina are expected to lift less crude in February while Aramco is set to increase its supply to Sinopec and Sinochem, according to a Reuters report. In other news, after BP was hired as a technical service provider for India’s largest oifield, Mumbai High, the British major stated that crude oil output at the offshore field could be increased by 44% from a baseline production of 45.47 million metric tonnes to 65.41 over the ten-year contract period. According to India’s ONGC, the increase is expected to be visible from FY’26 with full scale visibility expected from FY’28. Finally, in the leadup to President-elect Trump’s inauguration on 20 January, the US Senate energy committee will hold nomination hearings for energy roles on Tuesday and Wednesday (14-15 Jan) next week, as per Reuters. The committee will hold a hearing for Doug Burgum for secretary of the interior and Chris Wright for energy secretary, two candidates who are both expected to carry out Trump’s policies to boost production of oil and gas. At the time of writing, the Mar/Apr’25 and Mar/Sep’25 Brent futures spreads stand at $0.67/bbl and $2.82/bbl, respectively.
