The Jan’25 Brent futures contract strengthened this morning from $74.20/bbl at 07:00 GMT up to just over $74.80/bbl at 08:15 GMT. We saw a decline to $74.18/bbl by 09:15 GMT, however, recovered to around $74.40/bbl at 10:45 GMT (time of writing). Crude oil prices were elevated today as markets continue to focus on rising geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine. In the news today, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said at a meeting with OPEC that Russia’s energy market is under significant pressure and they will continue to develop cooperation with OPEC countries, according to a Reuters report. Meanwhile, Russia is estimated to have supplied North Korea with more than 1mb of oil since March this year, according to satellite imagery analysis from the Open Source Centre. In other news, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stated he would invite Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to visit Hungary, guaranteeing that the International Criminal Court arrest warrant against Netanyahu would “not be observed”. Finally, Iran’s nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami has issued an order to launch a series of new and advanced centrifuges, in response to an IAEA resolution on 21 Nov condemning Tehran’s nuclear cooperation and transparency. At the time of writing, the Jan/Feb’25 and Jan/Jul’25 Brent futures spreads stand at $0.52/bbl and $1.70/bbl, respectively.
