The September Brent futures flat price has been on an upward trajectory this morning, where despite some choppiness it has seen a 50c uptick from $81.15/bbl at 06:50 BST to $81.70/bbl, where it sits as of 11:00 BST (time of writing). China’s newest mega refiner Shandong Yulong Petrochemical Co plans to start test-running its 400kb/d plant around 30 September, according to sources knowledgeable on the matter. India’s Reliance Industries has received approval from the US to resume importing oil from Venezuela despite Washington’s sanctions. Before US oil sanctions were first imposed on the South American country in 2019, Reliance was the second-largest individual buyer of Venezuelan crude after China’s CNPC. Repsol announced plans to buy back an additional 20 million outstanding shares after higher oil prices helped it beat Q2 profit expectations, with their adjusted net profit of €859 million up from €827 million a year earlier and above the €751 million expected by analysts. Finally, in macro news, the Bank of Japan is to weigh a possible rate hike at their 2-day policy meeting ending on 31 July. At the time of writing, the front and 6-month spreads are $0.94/bbl and $3.53/bbl, respectively.
