Overview
- Brent slid to about $59.3 and WTI to roughly $55.6, putting benchmarks on track for year-to-date losses near 20% for Brent and 22% for WTI, the worst since 2020 and 2018 respectively.
- Progress reported in Berlin, including a U.S. offer of NATO‑style security guarantees for Ukraine, has investors weighing the prospect of eased sanctions on Russian crude.
- China’s November factory output growth slowed to 4.8% year on year and retail sales rose 1.3%, intensifying concerns about weaker demand from the world’s largest oil importer.
- The IEA projects global output growth that implies a roughly 3.7 million barrels per day surplus in 2026, as OPEC+ restores a small December increase then pauses hikes in the first quarter.
- Supply risks persist with a U.S. seizure of a Venezuelan tanker and Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy facilities, yet floating storage climbed to about 120 million barrels, underscoring ample supply.