After this morning’s rally on the back of substantial monetary policy easing announcements in China, the Nov’24 Brent futures contract dipped over the course of this afternoon, trading at $75.51/bbl at 12:00 BST and declining to $74.90/bbl at 17:20 BST (time of writing). Price action has been volatile amid escalation of conflict in Lebanon and another hurricane threatening the US Gulf Coast. In the news today, as the Libyan political standoff continues to stall crude oil output, Libya’s exports have crashed to 400kb/d for this month compared to 1mb/d in August, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Reuters. Analytics from Kpler showed that most of these cargoes were headed to Italy and Greece, with some travelling to China and Canada. In other news, the US State Department and Global Affairs Canada are in negotiations over the maritime boundaries of the Beaufort Sea, according to Bloomberg. Overlapping between the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and the north of Alaska, the Beaufort Sea is thought to contain a potentially oil-rich seabed and is of particular importance as China and Russia seek to explore more resources and trade routes in the Arctic. At the time of writing, the front month (Nov/Dec’24) and six-month (Nov/May’25) Brent futures spreads are at $0.68/bbl and $1.82/bbl, respectively.
