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Q4 Quarterly Volumes Review

The Q4 volumes review is here alongside with the forecast for the quarters ahead
Published: March 31, 2026
Written by:
Edward Hayden-Briffett

Edward Hayden-Briffett

Research Analyst, The Officials
Edward Hayden-Briffett
and
Will Cunliffe

Will Cunliffe

Research Analyst, The Officials
Will Cunliffe
Reviewed by:
Jorge Montepeque

Jorge Montepeque

Head of Benchmarking, The Officials
Jorge Montepeque
Edition: Quarterly Volumes ReviewVolume: 1Issue: 3
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The Q4 volumes review is here alongside with the forecast for the quarters ahead

2025 was a record-breaking year, as global traded oil derivatives volumes exceeded 1 trillion barrels for the first time in history. The Officials present the Quarterly Volumes Review for Q4 2025. Q4 continued the broad-based fatigue that we documented in the prior Quarterly Volumes Review.rnrnIn this edition, we employ a hidden Markov switching model to segregate market state into three categories. We find that regimes remain persistent on average for 2-3 weeks, with the most persistent of the regimes being ‘Risk-on active’. The estimated transition structure indicates strong regime persistence. Such persistence was clearly demonstrated throughout H2 2025, as paralysis became entrenched. We find that 71.93% of trading days in Q4 were spent in the ‘paralysis’ regime. As a result, we observe significant weakness in traded volumes, which totalled just over 241 billion barrels.

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The Officials publish outright values, spreads, cracks and boxes for the main energy commodities traded in the marketplace. The published values are determined independently and on a fair market basis by our team of dedicated professionals.

We invite you to read our reports, which are published twice a day, reflecting closing values at 16:30 Singapore time (SGT) and at 16:30 London time (GMT/BST). For any comments, please reach out to us through the emails provided in the signed documents.

Written by

Edward Hayden-Briffett

Research Analyst, The Officials
Edward Hayden-Briffett

Will Cunliffe

Research Analyst, The Officials
Will Cunliffe

About Quarterly Volumes Review

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