Anybody know why? Maintainence?  Decline?
Traders attributed the decline to poor production and demand for January cargoes.

Poor production and demand? I suppose some traders are saying it poor production and others are saying it is poor demand. But that doesn't make any sense. If demand were down, prices would be falling instead of rising. So I will put my money on poor production.

Ron Patterson

It's not poor demand: dated Brent (physical Brent market) is trading at premium to futures - this means demand is outstripping supply