Feb’25 Brent crude futures inched up from $72.42/bbl at 07:00 GMT this morning to $72.60/bbl at 10:55 GMT (at time of writing). Crude oil prices saw support while Chinese manufacturing PMI rose to 51.5 in November, up from 50.3 in October, and Israel continued to bomb Lebanon today despite last week’s ceasefire agreement. Meanwhile, on 30 Nov, Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) stated it hit a new production high for crude oil and condensates, pumping 1.39mb/d according to Libya Herald. In the news today, Poland has shut down a section of the Druzhba pipeline after detecting a leak, as per Bloomberg. The pipeline operator PERN claimed the leak did not affect supply to customers, as oil supplies continued through a second branch “whose technical capabilities fully cover the volume needs”, according to Reuters. In other news, a Bloomberg report revealed that a broadening of US sanctions on tankers hauling Iranian crude has slowed the delivery of oil from Iran to China, citing ship-tracking data. However, no estimate was given for the total potential disruption to Iran’s crude oil flows. Finally, India’s gasoline consumption jumped 9% in November y/y, as Indian gasoline sales hit 3.42 million metric tons, according to the Economic Times. At the time of writing, the Feb/Mar’25 and Feb/Aug’25 Brent futures spreads stand at $0.32/bbl and $1.23/bbl, respectively.
