CRUDE IN SIGHT

Crude slumps >3% early Mon as US-Iran tensions de-escalate - Feb. 2, 2026

  • Crude futures came in for a sharp sell-off when markets opened Monday morning on a perceived easing of US-Iran tensions, which had pushed prices to four-month highs last week.
  • Iran is negotiating “seriously” with the US over its nuclear programme, President Donald Trump told reporters Saturday night.
  • The OPEC/non-OPEC Group of Eight on Sunday reaffirmed their decision to hold production targets unchanged through end-March.

ARCHIVES

OIL VIEWSLETTER

India's Russian crude reset: Implications for trade routes and prices - Feb. 3, 2026

India has “agreed” to halt purchases of Russian oil under a trade deal with the US that would cut US tariffs on the South Asian country from 50% to 18%, President Donald Trump said on Monday.

What does this mean? India imported about 1.6 million b/d of Russian crude in 2025. Will that drop to zero? Where will Russia redirect the crudde? Can China absorb much more? What will be the impact on Moscow's revenues and will this help Trump in his bid to break the Ukraine impasse?

Finally, what does the impending reshuffle bode for global supply balances and crude prices?

Our snap analysis in this special edition.

ARCHIVES

BULLS & BEARS

Feb 2026: Neutral near-term, mildly bearish first-half Feb - Jan. 23, 2026

Our latest Bulls & Bears report maintains a neutral stance for the coming week and a mildly bearish outlook for the first half of February.

ARCHIVES

EXECUTIVE BRIEFING NOTES

Trump's Venezuela gambit: Big political risk, modest oil impact for now - Jan. 4, 2026

Trump took a bold risk in sending US troops into Caracas over the weekend, capturing President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Celia Flores, and transferring them to the US to face longstanding criminal charges.

He may also have taken on an impossible task in pledging to “run” Venezuela until a safe and orderly transition to a democratically elected government is in place. Venezuela’s Supreme Court has ordered Vice President Delcy Rodriguez to assume interim presidential powers, while Washington is racing to shape a workable interim setup. Pushback from Maduro’s allies cannot be ruled out. 

While the political situation is likely to remain in flux for months, with plenty of scope for messy outcomes, the near-term oil market equation is less complicated. We expect crude to come face mild bearish pressure as Venezuelan production and exports, disrupted by US blockades in recent weeks,  begin to normalise. 

Longer-term, Trump has promised American companies will invest “billions of dollars” to rehabilitate Venezuela’s oil sector. But even if everything goes to plan, meaningful gains are far down the line. 

Read our quick analysis of the latest development and their implications for oil in this Executive Briefing Note.

OIL RADAR

OIL IN 2026: Surplus on paper, wildcards in the real world - Dec. 29, 2025

Here we are at the end of 2025, a year of softer fundamentals punctuated by sharp, geopolitically driven lurches.

2026 is shaping up as a “surplus year” -- but not a sleepy one. The balance sheet looks loose; the risk map doesn’t.

Our special report sets out why we see Brent averaging $60-64/barrel, and where the real wildcards sit: Ukraine’s endgame (and what any sanctions unwind would actuallychange), a US-Venezuela standoff that could still escalate, and a Middle East where flashpoints are shifting rather than fading.

We also focus on market plumbing that can move prices even when fundamentals say “rangebound”:

  • Unusually high oil-on-water and record oil in transit -- a sanctions-era dislocation, not a Covid-style contango replay
  • Rare net-short speculative positioning, pointing to a more two-sided, tactical market -- prone to both air-pockets and squeezes
  • Atlantic refining margins converging while Asia stays squeezed, implying tougher Asian competition and continued pull for Atlantic exports

If you’re tracking what could break the range -- up or down -- this is the framework we’re using.