The September Brent futures flat price has capitulated this afternoon, falling from $82.30/bbl at 12:10 BST down to a low of $80.50/bbl at 16:55 BST, before retracing up marginally to $80.75/bbl, where it sits as of 17:05 BST (time of writing). Hungary is to block European Union refunds for member states that gave munitions to Ukraine until Kyiv allows the transit of oil from Russia’s Lukoil through the Druzhba pipeline. Building on this, Slovakia has said it could be forced to cut fuel exports to neighbouring countries, ironically including Ukraine, if Ukraine maintains the sanctions that have cut the pipeline’s flow. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday that Russia will reinstate a ban on gasoline exports from 01 August and that the state is considering extending the restriction into the autumn. Finally, Eni is in talks with KKR for a 20-25% stake in the group’s biofuel business, with the Italian firm aiming to use it €3 billion share sale to fund its diversification from oil and gas to renewable energy. At the time of writing, the front and 6-month spreads are $0.88/bbl and $3.26/bbl, respectively.
