The July Brent futures flat price has had a fairly unsettled afternoon, initially falling from $82.50/bbl at 12:00 BST to $81.70/bbl by 14:40 BST, before rising to the afternoon’s high of $82.55/bbl at 16:10 BST. Subsequently, the price again came off down to $81.85/bbl at $17:05 before retracing up to $82.30/bbl handles by 17:30 BST (time of writing). UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced a general election for July 04, stating he is doing ‘what is right for our country, not what is easy’. EIA inventory data released today revealed that US crude inventories rose by 1.83mbbls in the past week, with the large build being a surprise given the 2mbbls draw that was anticipated. Tesla’s sales in Europe have fallen to a 15-month low in April, with registrations dropping by 2.3% compared to the same month in 2023 to 13,951, a potential hammer blow to Tesla CEO Elon Musk who predicted Q2 would be ‘a lot better’. China’s total oil product demand rose 1.3mbbls m-o-m to 16.6mbbls in March, however this is over 150kbbls (-1.0%) lower than the same figure for March 2023. The front and 6-month spreads are $0.23/bbl and $2.48/bbl, respectively.
