The Mar’26 Brent futures contract saw a fairly weak opening this morning, trading down from $61.35/bbl at 07:30 GMT to a low of $60.42/bbl at 09:30 GMT, before retracing and finding support around $60.79/bbl, where it prints at the time of writing (11:20 GMT). In headlines, despite US and EU sanctions on major Russian energy companies, three tankers carrying about 2.2mb of Russian Urals crude are heading to Reliance’s Jamnagar refinery, with the oil sold by several trading firms, including some under UK sanctions, according to Kpler and Bloomberg. Although analysts had expected Indian refiners to reduce purchases after sanctions on Lukoil and Rosneft, Indian imports of Russian crude instead rose to around 1.85mb/d in December 2025, the highest level in six months. Separately, Russia has also continued exporting liquefied natural gas despite restrictions, with Novatek shipping 21 LNG cargoes from its Arctic LNG 2 project to China last year; the facility remains under US and EU sanctions, highlighting how Russian energy flows are being redirected toward Asian markets rather than curtailed. Moreover, Russia’s total exports of liquefied natural gas to China in 2025 have hit an all-time high despite the sanctions, with September flows specifically doubling from a year earlier, to 1.6 million tons from 751,000 tons. At the time of writing, the prompt and 6-month Brent Futures spreads are at $0.34/bbl and $0.63/bbl, respectively.
