Energy Markets 26 December 2025 - 4 January 2026

Oil traders were braced for a volatile open on Sunday after Venezuela’s state-run PDVSA asked some joint ventures to cut crude output as a U.S. oil embargo froze exports following the capture of President Nicolas Maduro in a strike on Saturday, sources said. The company pointed to swelling inventories and a shortage of diluents — lighter oil used to thin heavy crude for shipment — the sources said. Reuters

Oil traders are bracing for the next crude-futures open after U.S. forces struck Venezuela and captured President Nicolas Maduro, while state company PDVSA said production and refining were operating normally. Two people familiar with PDVSA operations said the attack did not damage oil facilities, though the port of La Guaira near Caracas was badly hit. A U.S. tanker blockade announced in December and the seizure of two Venezuelan crude cargoes already pushed exports to roughly half their November pace, according to monitoring data and internal documents. Reuters

Oil prices settled slightly lower on the first trading day of 2026 after Brent and U.S. crude posted their biggest annual loss since 2020, each falling nearly 20% in 2025, as investors weighed oversupply concerns and looked to a policy meeting on Sunday by OPEC+, the group of OPEC and allied producers such as Russia. Brent futures closed down 10 cents at $60.75 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate fell 10 cents to $57.32; Brent logged its third straight annual decline, its longest losing streak on record. “Oil prices are locked in this long-term trading range,” said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group. Reuters