The July Brent futures flat price has had a mixed afternoon, initially having a mini rally to $83.40/bbl by 13:40 BST before swiftly dipping to $83.15/bbl at 14:05 BST. Following this, it saw a spike, with the price hitting $83.80/bbl between 15:25 BST and 15:40 BST, before plummeting even faster than it rose, to $83.10/bbl handles, where it currently remains as of 16:55 BST (time of writing). Lukoil’s Volgograd 300kbbls/d refinery was partly shut down after being hit by a drone attack on Sunday, the second such attack this year on southern Russia’s largest refinery. German heating oil sales have hit their highest weekly level this year on the back of falling prices and low household stocks, with daily average traded volumes rising 45% w-o-w whilst the average cost dropped to $79.40/100 litres, driven by surplus diesel in Europe. A rush by US fuel producers to recalibrate their plants to produce biodiesel has created a supply glut for low-emissions and hammered refinery margins; Valero’s biodiesel margins fell 21.5% y-o-y in Q1 2024 to $1.02/gal. Oman’s budget revenues are down 12% in Q1 to 2.83 billion rials ($7.34 billion) due to a decline in the Sultanate’s oil and gas revenues. Angolan President João Lourenco is expected to approve by a law by June that will offer new incentives to expand production in offshore blocks, allowing the country to maintain its production of around 1.1mbbls/d for the foreseeable future. The front and 6-month spreads are $0.40/bbl and $3.01/bbl, respectively.
