The October Brent futures flat price continued to trade at the elevated $81.50/bbl level before sharply declining at 15:00 BST by over $1/bbl before finding support in the low $80s, printing $80.17/bbl at 17:20 BST (time of writing). In a statement after Thursday’s JMMC meeting, OPEC+ reiterated that its gradual unwinding of cuts could be paused or reversed depending on market conditions. The next JMMC meeting is scheduled for 02 October. The US ISM manufacturing PMI fell to 46.6 in July 2024, below market expectations of 48.8, and is the sharpest contraction since November 2023. The Bank of England lowered its Bank Rate by 25bps to 5% in its August meeting, noting that it will be cautious in loosening monetary policy until further officials are more confident that inflation will remain subdued. ConocoPhillips’ Q2 profit beat Wall Street estimates, which comes as it is pursuing a $22.5bn takeover of Marathon Oil and has reiterated its $9bn minimum shareholder return for 2024. Occidental said that Ecopetrol will not buy a stake in shale oil producer CrownRock, in a transaction potentially worth $3.6bn. At the time of writing, the front (Oct/Nov) and 6-month (Oct/Apr) Brent futures spreads are at $0.61/bbl and $2.47/bbl respectively.
