The September Brent futures flat price took a hit this afternoon after trading in a narrow range this morning around $85.70/bbl. Following a brief rise to $86.15/bbl at 10:30 BST, the price collapsed to $84.55/bbl by 15:15 BST, before retracing up to $85.15/bbl, where it remains as of 17:05 BST (time of writing). The still-prompt August Brent futures contract also softened from $87/bbl down to an $86.40/bbl handle ahead of today’s expiry. According to the EIA, US oil demand was at 20.008mb/d in April, nearly 0.5mb/d above the STEO forecast. The EIA also reported US crude production was at 13.248mb/d in April, with March slightly revised down to 13.176mb/d from 13.182mb/d. Equinor says its first Argentina offshore well came up dry, a blow given no clear signs of hydrocarbons were found when the well was expected to produce 200kb/d of oil. Repsol plans to sell up to 49% in its Eagle Ford shale assets in South Texas, in a deal that could value the assets at up to $2 billion. In macroeconomic news, the US personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index was unchanged in May from April, with the annual PCE rate decreasing to 2.6% and annual core PCE inflation also easing to 2.6%, the lowest since March 2021. At the time of writing, the Sep/Oct and Sep/Mar’25 spreads are $0.80/bbl and $3.66/bbl, respectively.
