The Mar’26 Brent futures contract has risen this afternoon, from $61/bbl at 12:30 GMT to $61.86/bbl at 15:55 GMT; prices have since eased to $61.66/bbl at 17:05 GMT (time of writing). In the news, US President Trump has threatened higher tariffs on India if the country does not reduce its purchases of Russian oil. According to Reuters, trade talks between the nations have been inconclusive, despite 3 meetings between the leaders since initial tariffs were imposed last year. Elsewhere, Chevron has resumed exports of Venezuelan oil to the US following a 4-day hiatus. Shipping data shows that a Chevron-chartered oil tanker loaded with roughly 300kb of Venezuelan heavy crude, bound for the US Gulf Coast, departed earlier today; Chevron remains the only US-authorised company to export Venezuelan crude. The US embargo remains in force, as per President Trump, despite the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. In other news, US refiner Phillips 66 has announced its plan to acquire Lindsey Oil Refinery’s assets and infrastructure in northern England after the site’s liquidation. These key facilities will be incorporated into its Humber Refinery. In Russia, the US, EU, and UK-sanctioned Christophe De Margerie ice-class LNG tanker is set to export its third cargo since 20 Dec from the Arctic LNG 2 project, as per Bloomberg. The tanker is the only identified vessel in the Russian shadow fleet that is capable of moving through thick Arctic ice. Finally, at the time of writing, the front-month (Mar/Apr’26) and 6-month (Mar/Sep’26) spreads are at $0.39/bbl and $0.89/bbl, respectively.
