Jan’25 Brent futures flat price weakened this afternoon, falling from around $71.90/bbl at 12:00 GMT and finding a floor around $70.30/bbl at 15:30 GMT before rising to $70.68/bbl at 17:30 GMT (time of writing). Crude oil prices faced downward pressure amid persistent concerns over weak Chinese demand, as well as reports of a scheduled meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his ministers to discuss potential resolutions to the conflict in Lebanon, according to Axios. In the news today, an OilChem survey indicated that China plans to reduce fuel exports by 14.2% in November. Total fuel exports are projected at 2.54 million tons, with allocations for gasoil and kerosene down by 28% and 18% compared to October, respectively. In other news, Angola’s Cabinda oil refinery is set to be commissioned between January and February, the CEO of Gemcorp has stated. Meanwhile, the first supplies of fuels are projected to reach local markets between March and April. The greenfield project will refine 30kb/d of Angolan Cabinda crude and supply 5-10% of the country’s needs, according to Reuters. Finally, Phillips 66 plans to operate its refineries between the low to mid 90% range capacity in Q4’24, making for a combined capacity of 1.5mb/d, as per Reuters. At the time of writing, the front-month (Jan/Feb’25) and six-month (Jan/Jul’25) Brent futures spreads are at $0.33/bbl and $0.83/bbl, respectively.
