The Feb’25 Brent futures contract saw strength this morning, increasing from $71.50/bbl at 07:00 GMT to around $72.10/bbl at 08:25 GMT, before tapering off to $71.80/bbl at 10:40 GMT (time of writing). In the news today, Israel has struck chemical weapons sites in Syria in reaction to the toppling of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, with Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz stating the country’s military was continuing to seize “high ground” inside Syria, according to Financial Times. A wide area of the Israel-Syria border was governed by a 1974 armistice agreement, with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu claiming this agreement has now “collapsed”. Meanwhile, US President-elect Trump called for an immediate ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia on 8 Dec, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying Russia was open to talks. For a peace deal to go ahead, Russian President Putin has stated Ukraine must not join NATO and Russia should be given full control of four Ukrainian regions his troops partially occupy, as per Reuters. In other news, Saudi Arabia has lowered its Arab Light OSP for Asian customers from $1.70/bbl in December to $0.90/bbl for January-loading cargoes. According to Reuters, this is the lowest premium for Arab Light since January 2021. Finally, China’s Politburo led by President Xi Jinping announced it will embrace a “moderately loose” strategy for monetary policy in 2025, as per Bloomberg. Top officials made pledges to “stabilise property and stock markets” and emphasised the importance of boosting consumption, as Beijing prepares for the potential impact of US President-elect Trump’s vow to impose a 60% tariff on Chinese exports. At the time of writing, the Feb/Mar’25 and Feb/Aug’25 Brent futures spreads stand at $0.31/bbl and $1.10/bbl, respectively.
