The Apr’25 Brent futures contract has seen strength this morning, increasing from $74.15/bbl at 0815 GMT up to $74.75/bbl at 1015 GMT, before tapering to $74.60/bbl at 1045 GMT (time of writing). Overall, speculators are becoming less optimistic on crude oil’s prospects, with net-long positions in WTI falling to the lowest level since October while money manager long positions in Brent were dialed back by the most since early January, as per Bloomberg. In the news today, Iraq is waiting for Turkey’s approval to restart oil flows from the Iraqi Kurdistan region, the Iraqi Oil Minister stated, adding that Kurdish oil exports could be ready in two days, according to Reuters. Iraq’s Deputy Oil Minister claimed the resumption of the pipeline could ship about 185kb/d of crude, Bloomberg reported. In other news, President Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to travel to the Middle East on Wednesday (26 Feb) to push for the extension of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Witkoff told CNN. The first phase of the ceasefire includes a deal to exchange 33 Israeli hostages held in Gaza for 2,000 Palestinian detainees held by Israel, as per Reuters. At the time of writing, the Apr/May’25 and Apr/Oct’25 Brent futures spreads currently stand at $0.41/bbl and $2.31/bbl.
