The Apr Brent futures contract has been very volatile over the day and seems to be moving sideways amid a mixed bag of news. The contract was seen trading around the $77.50/bbl handles and dropped to a daily low of $76.63/bbl at 14:50 GMT. At 17:00 GMT (time of writing), prices were trading at $77.38/bbl.
Prices continued to be capped by accelerating growth data from the US, with the Fed potentially delaying its rate cut to Q2’24. Support in the crude complex was brought by the lack of calming tensions in the Red Sea. Despite the geopolitical risk possibly waning over talks of a ceasefire, according to ING analysts, this ‘does not appear imminent’.
On Monday, Chinese state oil company CNOOC began the production of its largest secondary development and adjustment project at the Suizhong 36-1/Luda 5-2 offshore oilfield. The project is expected to have 118 development wells drilled, comprising 81 production wells and 37 water injection wells. The project will reach a peak production of 30.3kbbls/day in 2025.
The front and 6-month Brent futures spreads are at $0.27/bbl and $1.79/bbl, respectively.
