The Feb’25 Brent futures contract saw weakness this morning, trading from $71.85/bbl at 07:00 GMT up to $72.20/bbl at 09:00 GMT and falling to around $71.55/bbl at 11:00 GMT (time of writing). In the news today, Israeli airstrikes targeted Syrian military installations and airbases overnight, but denied its forces had advanced into Syria beyond a buffer zone at the border, as per Reuters. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu took the witness stand for the first time in his long-running corruption trial, pleading not guilty to charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. In Russia, Foreign Intelligence Chief Sergei Naryshkin said that Moscow was close to achieving its goals in Ukraine, with Russia holding what he said was the strategic initiative in all areas in the war, as per Reuters. In other news, Iraq has ended the year without finalising a deal with Kurdistan for exports of crude oil from the northern region. MP Jiay Timor from the Kurdistan Democratic Party stated that the delay stems from disagreements over the cost of oil extraction, with the Iraqi government initially estimating the cost at $6/bbl while “foreign companies” estimated the cost to be as high as $26/bbl, according to Shafaq News. Finally, China’s customs data showed oil imports rose to 11.81mb/d in November, the first increase seen in seven months. The total for the month was 48.5 million tons of crude, a 14.3% increase y/y. At the time of writing, the Feb/Mar’25 and Feb/Aug’25 Brent futures spreads stand at $0.27/bbl and $1.13/bbl, respectively.
