The Dec’24 Brent futures contract strengthened this afternoon, trading at $73.81/bbl at 12:00 BST and moving up to $74.32/bbl at 17:20 BST (time of writing). Price action was volatile throughout the afternoon amid ongoing fears of regional conflict escalating in the Middle East. In the news today, reports of an oil spill off the coast of Kharg Island, Iran’s largest oil export terminal, have raised concerns of potential supply disruption, while the cause of the spill is yet to be determined. Meanwhile, Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesperson for the Iranian atomic energy agency, has said an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear sites is unlikely. According to Reuters, Kamalvandi added that Iran has planned such that any damages sustained from an attack would be minimal. In other news, a fire at the La Salinas oil terminal in Venezuela has left 21 people injured, with approximately 75kb of oil at the facility when the blaze started, as per Reuters. Finally, India’s imports of Russian crude have climbed to about 1.9mb/d for the month of September, an 11.7% increase compared to August. At the time of writing, the front month (Dec/Jan’25) and six-month (Dec/Jun’25) Brent futures spreads are at $0.41/bbl and $1.66/bbl, respectively.
