Oil prices rose during Friday’s Asian session to begin trading in 2026 after falling steeply across 2025.
Brent crude prices were up 0.4% to US$61.06 per barrel by 2:20 pm AEDT, while West Texas Intermediate rose 0.4% to $57.62.
Prices fell by almost 20% in 2025, the largest annual decline since 2020. Brent crude began 2025 at roughly $74 per barrel.
“Global crude oil production rebounded in 2025, growing by an estimated 2.2 million b/d overall, with 1.7 million b/d of growth from non-OPEC+ countries,” wrote the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Oil prices have declined amid a series of OPEC production hikes, rising offshore output in South America, and low demand in China.
Worldwide crude oil production will rise by around 800,000 barrels per day in 2026, the EIA has projected.
JPMorgan Chase analysts have predicted that Brent crude prices will decline to $58 per barrel in 2026, and could fall into the $30-40 range by the end of 2027.
Meanwhile, the U.S. imposed a new slate of sanctions on oil tankers and traders operating in Venezuela on Wednesday. The sanctioned tankers had transported Venezuelan oil to countries in Asia and the Caribbean during 2025.
The sanctioned oil tanker Bella 1, which the U.S. has been pursuing in international waters near Venezuela for nearly two weeks, has also been re-registered as a Russian vessel.
Russia’s government has told the U.S. State Department to end its pursuit of the tanker, the New York Times reported.
