The September Brent futures flat price has rallied this afternoon, despite seeing a dip from $86/bbl at 14:50 BST to $85.20/bbl by 15:30 BST. Following this drop, the flat price strengthened rapidly, hitting $86.40/bbl at 17:05 BST, where it remains at 17:20 BST (time of writing). US SPR crude inventories rose by 0.4mb w-o-w to 372.2mb last week, with sour inventories rising by 0.4mb and sweet inventories remaining flat. Saudi foreign exchange reserves have risen to an 18-month high thanks to Aramco dividends, with Aramco paying out more than $25 billion to the government in May. In other positive news for the Middle Eastern state, Saudi’s energy minister has announced the discovery of seven oil and gas deposits in the Kingdom’s Eastern Province and Empty Quarter. Exxon has said that strikes have disrupted operations at its French Gravenchon oil refinery, which accounts for 20% of France’s refining capacity. Brazil’s Petrobras has raised jet fuel prices by an average 3.2%, equivalent to $0.0215 per litre, however, so far in 2024 jet fuel prices are still down 5.8%. At the time of writing, the front and 6-month spreads are $0.84/bbl and $3.86/bbl, respectively.
