Ice Brent crude futures surged by nearly $1/bl in early Asian trading hours, boosted by firm oil demand from China.
At 04:00 GMT, the Ice front-month December Brent contract was at $62.26/bl, up by 94¢/bl from its settlement on 21 October, when the contract ended 31¢/bl higher.
The Nymex front-month December crude contract was at $58.17/bl, higher by 93¢/bl from its settlement on 21 October, when the contract ended higher by 22¢/bl.
China's refinery crude runs hit a two-year high of 15.25mn b/d (62.69mn t) in September, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. This was the highest level since October 2023, up by 310,000 b/d or 2.1pc from August's 14.95mn b/d and up by 970,000 b/d or 6.6pc from 14.29mn b/d a year earlier.
Rising run rates among independent refineries supported throughput in September. The issuance of oil product export quotas also supported runs. China's commerce ministry issued a third batch of 2025 quotas in mid-September, totalling around 67mn bl.
Chinese private-sector mega refiner Yulong has begun reselling Canadian crude cargoes following recent sanctions from the UK government, according to market sources. It is unclear how many cargoes the company is seeking to resell, but all cargoes were said to be high TAN heavy sour Canadian grades from Trans Mountain's Pacific Blend pool. Yulong was heard to have bought at least four Aframax shipments of high TAN crude during the December delivery cycle.
Yulong operates its namesake 400,000 b/d refinery in Shandong province and has been one of the largest purchasers of heavy sour Canadian crude in recent months, mostly High TAN grades. The UK on 15 October sanctioned the Shandong refiner for buying Russian crude under the UK's Russia Sanctions EU Exit Regulation 2019. This in theory means any of the major global oil firms with offices in London now risk having their UK assets frozen for supplying unsanctioned grades to Yulong.
In the US, the Department of Energy (DOE) plans to purchase up to 1mn bl of sour crude as it works to deliver on US president Donald Trump's goal to fully refill the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
DOE is funding the oil purchase through Trump's tax and energy law, which set aside $171mn to begin refilling the SPR. But that law provided only enough funding to buy a total of 3mn bl of crude, roughly 1pc of the amount needed to refill the SPR to its authorised capacity of 714mn bl. Even so, administration officials cast the upcoming crude purchase as a significant step towards replenishing the SPR.
Trump's stated goal to fill the SPR "right to the top" would require purchasing nearly 290mn bl of crude, according to Argus estimates, which factor in the upcoming return of 17mn bl of long-term crude loans to the SPR over the next year.
Trump said last week that he would resume direct diplomacy with Russian president Vladimir Putin, following a phone conversation with the Russian leader on 16 October. Trump said that he would meet with Putin in Budapest, Hungary, within two weeks.
But a White House official followed up on 21 October that "there are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future".
Ice Brent crude futures surged by nearly $1/bl in early Asian trading hours, boosted by firm oil demand from China.
At 04:00 GMT, the Ice front-month December Brent contract was at $62.26/bl, up by 94¢/bl from its settlement on 21 October, when the contract ended 31¢/bl higher.
The Nymex front-month December crude contract was at $58.17/bl, higher by 93¢/bl from its settlement on 21 October, when the contract ended higher by 22¢/bl.
China's refinery crude runs hit a two-year high of 15.25mn b/d (62.69mn t) in September, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. This was the highest level since October 2023, up by 310,000 b/d or 2.1pc from August's 14.95mn b/d and up by 970,000 b/d or 6.6pc from 14.29mn b/d a year earlier.
Rising run rates among independent refineries supported throughput in September. The issuance of oil product export quotas also supported runs. China's commerce ministry issued a third batch of 2025 quotas in mid-September, totalling around 67mn bl.
Chinese private-sector mega refiner Yulong has begun reselling Canadian crude cargoes following recent sanctions from the UK government, according to market sources. It is unclear how many cargoes the company is seeking to resell, but all cargoes were said to be high TAN heavy sour Canadian grades from Trans Mountain's Pacific Blend pool. Yulong was heard to have bought at least four Aframax shipments of high TAN crude during the December delivery cycle.
Yulong operates its namesake 400,000 b/d refinery in Shandong province and has been one of the largest purchasers of heavy sour Canadian crude in recent months, mostly High TAN grades. The UK on 15 October sanctioned the Shandong refiner for buying Russian crude under the UK's Russia Sanctions EU Exit Regulation 2019. This in theory means any of the major global oil firms with offices in London now risk having their UK assets frozen for supplying unsanctioned grades to Yulong.
In the US, the Department of Energy (DOE) plans to purchase up to 1mn bl of sour crude as it works to deliver on US president Donald Trump's goal to fully refill the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
DOE is funding the oil purchase through Trump's tax and energy law, which set aside $171mn to begin refilling the SPR. But that law provided only enough funding to buy a total of 3mn bl of crude, roughly 1pc of the amount needed to refill the SPR to its authorised capacity of 714mn bl. Even so, administration officials cast the upcoming crude purchase as a significant step towards replenishing the SPR.
Trump's stated goal to fill the SPR "right to the top" would require purchasing nearly 290mn bl of crude, according to Argus estimates, which factor in the upcoming return of 17mn bl of long-term crude loans to the SPR over the next year.
Trump said last week that he would resume direct diplomacy with Russian president Vladimir Putin, following a phone conversation with the Russian leader on 16 October. Trump said that he would meet with Putin in Budapest, Hungary, within two weeks.
But a White House official followed up on 21 October that "there are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future".
By YouLiang Chay