The Mar’26 Brent futures contract traded rangebound this afternoon, easing slightly from $60.87/bbl at 13:20 GMT to $60.08/bbl at 17:10 GMT (time of writing). In the news, the US has seized a Russian-flagged tanker after tracking it for over two weeks across the Atlantic. The Marinera, initially called Bella-1, had earlier evaded a US maritime blockade of sanctioned tankers in the Caribbean and fought off attempts by the US Coast Guard to board it. Related, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright has stated that the US needs to manage Venezuela’s oil sales and revenue to implement the desired changes in the country. Wright has stated that he was in discussions with US oil companies to understand what is required for them to enter Venezuela, further elaborating that he wants to sell Venezuelan oil to US and international refineries. Elsewhere, the Iraqi government has announced its approval to nationalise the petroleum operations at the West Qurna 2 oil field, in line with the provisions of a service contract signed with Russia’s Lukoil. The cabinet also agreed to pursue approvals for financing operations via the Majnoon oilfield account, which will be supported from crude shipments sold by the state oil marketer SOMO. In Mexico, Reuters reported that President Claudia Sheinbaum has stated that the country is not sending more oil to Cuba than previously, but amid developments in Venezuela, has turned into an “important supplier” of crude to Cuba. Finally, at the time of writing, the front-month (Mar/Apr) and 6-month (Mar/Sep) spreads are at $0.36/bbl and $0.57/bbl, respectively.
