Feb’25 Brent futures fell from $73.70/bbl at 13.30 GMT to $72.70/bbl at 17:00 GMT. A US government shutdown is looming as Congress scrambles to pass a stopgap bill, despite opposition from President-elect Donald Trump, according to Fox News. Economic data showed jobless claims dropped to 220,000 (below estimates) from 242,000 the previous week. US GDP saw annualised growth of 3.1% in Q3, and the Philadelphia Fed survey plunged to -16.4, compared to the predicted +3.0. BP and Iraq have agreed on key technical terms for redeveloping Kirkuk’s oil and gas fields, which still contain billions of barrels of recoverable oil. According to BP, a full contract is expected to be finalized by early next year. Oil operators in North Dakota, the third-largest oil-producing state in the US, are still working to restore facilities after October wildfires impacted key production areas. The fires caused a loss of 520kb and a decline in output to 1.178 mb/d from 1.2 mb/d in September. According to Sinopec, China’s oil consumption is projected to peak by 2027 at 800 million metric tons, equivalent to 16 million barrels per day. They say the decline in diesel and gasoline demand is driving the slowdown in the world’s largest oil importer. At the time of writing, the front (Feb/Mar’25) and 6-month (Feb/Aug’25) Brent Futures spreads are at $0.40/bbl and $1.78/bbl, respectively.
