The Apr’25 Brent futures contract sold-off this afternoon from around $74.40/bbl at 14:30 GMT down to $72.85/bbl at 17:30 GMT (time of writing). Crude oil prices saw bearish sentiment following poor economic news from the US and Germany, driven partly by concerns about President Trump’s push for trade tariffs. In the news today, Iranian oil sellers risk significant hurdles to moving their cargoes out the country with competition for unsanctioned tankers from Russia and Venezuela intensifying, according to Kpler. While there were around 150 tankers engaged in Iranian crude oil transport in 2024, more than 100 of these vessels are now sanctioned by the US, as per Bloomberg. In other news, the Kremlin has reiterated that European peacekeepers being deployed in Ukraine would be unacceptable to Russia, according to Reuters. This followed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s comment last week, stating that NATO troops on the ground in Ukraine would be a “direct threat” to Russia’s sovereignty. Finally, Brazilian regulators are cracking down on some offshore drilling by oil giants like Petrobras and Equinor, Bloomberg reported. Two Petrobras rigs were temporarily suspended as of 20 Feb, while operations were halted at the Valaris drillship at Equinor’s Bacalhau field on Feb 17 under safety regulations. At the time of writing, the Apr/May’25 and Apr/Oct’25 Brent futures spreads stand at $0.48/bbl and $2.41/bbl, respectively.
