The Dec’24 Brent futures flat price this morning climbed from $74.75/bbl at 07:00 BST up to $75.34/bbl at 11:20 BST (time of writing), with a low of $74.33/bbl at 10:05 BST and high of $75.40/bbl at 10:40 BST. This upward price action could in part be influenced by widening of conflict in the Middle East. In the news today, the Israeli Air Force has struck a military depot in Syria in the vicinity of Russia’s Khmeimim air base. The operation reportedly was aimed at disrupting shipments of weaponry intended to be delivered to Hezbollah. Meanwhile, the US and other G7 countries have warned Israel against strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. In other news, maintenance repairs for Kazakhstan’s 400kb/d Kashagan refinery have been postponed and are now due to start 7 Oct and last 30 days, the energy ministry has said to Reuters. Finally, Total has shut an unspecified unit at its 240kb/d Gonfreville refinery for maintenance. At the time of writing, the front month (Dec/Jan’25) and six-month (Dec/Jun’25) Brent futures spreads are at $0.41/bbl and $1.37/bbl, respectively.