The Jan’25 Brent futures contract saw sustained strength this morning, increasing from $73.25/bbl at 07:00 GMT up to $73.95/bbl at 10:55 GMT (time of writing). Geopolitical risk was elevated as Russia fired an intercontinental ballistic missile at the southern city of Dnipro, Ukraine for the first time since the start of the conflict in 2022, according to Financial Times. In the news today, US President-elect Donald Trump intends to revive the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office. The 1,200-mile-long pipeline was supposed to carry some 800kb/d of Canadian heavy crude to US refineries. In other news, Exxon has decided to pull out of an exploration block offshore Suriname and transfer its 50% stake to Petronas, as stated by Suriname state-owned company Staatsolie. Finally, Exxon, Hess, and CNOOC plan to add a fourth production vessel in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, according to Hess Corp.’s CEO quoted by Reuters. The new facility is expected to add 250kb/d to the group’s output capacity by 2026. At the time of writing, the Jan/Feb’25 and Jan/Jul’25 Brent futures spreads stand at $0.35/bbl and $1.29/bbl, respectively.
