US Intercepts two tankers off the Venezuelan coast
December 22, 2025
The energy markets will be closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The markets will resume normal hours on Friday, December 26. That means no forward contract will be available on Wednesday and Thursday.
The energy markets are up a bit to start this short Christmas week with many traders already out for an extended holiday break. Markets will be relatively quiet until we get into the new year barring some major development.
Headlines this morning are all about the US intercepting two tankers of the coast of Venezuela and those headlines are offered some support to prices here to start the week.
There are also report that Ukraine over the weekend had some drone attacks on Russian tankers in the Mediterranean and an oil platform in the Caspian Sea, and then also some vessels at a Black Sea port. These latest rounds of attacks have become much more focused on energy infrastructure. This is also offering support to energy prices.
Baker Hughes reported that oil rigs were down 8 in Friday’s report to a total of 408 oilrigs in operation. The US has taken 67 oil rigs offline in 2025 thus far. Oil rigs are at the lowest level since September 2021.
Kpler data showed that European Union imports of diesel/gasoil are set to reach a 10-month low in December as the market remains well-supplied amid seasonally weak demand.
Barclays said that even if Venezuelan oil exports decline by 200,000 bpd, it would be unlikely to significantly affect global oil prices. It maintained its $65 per barrel forecast for Brent for 2026. It said OPEC supply will exceed the implied demand for their barrels by 600,000 bpd, resulting in the increase in estimated imbalance next year to 1.9 million bpd from 1.3 million bpd this year.