Overview
- Brent hovered near $62 and WTI around $58 after a five-day advance as traders weighed enforcement risks tied to Venezuela and rising Black Sea tensions.
- U.S. authorities seized two tankers and are pursuing a third, and President Donald Trump said seized Venezuelan crude could be sold, kept or used for U.S. reserves, leaving several loaded vessels waiting or rerouting.
- An American Petroleum Institute survey indicated a 2.4 million-barrel U.S. crude stock build, with official Energy Information Administration data delayed to Dec. 29 due to the holiday.
- Russia’s Urals crude is trading near $34 a barrel, with average export discounts of about $27 that narrow to roughly $7.50 by delivery to India, according to Argus data.
- Vessel-tracking firms report roughly 1.3–1.4 billion barrels of oil at sea and a sharp increase in Russian barrels in transit, aligning with IEA expectations for a sizable 2026 surplus.