The September Brent futures contract weakened to $81/bbl at 16:05 BST, where it found support and sharply rallied to $82.20/bbl at 16:35 BST. The benchmark crude futures contract has since simmered off to $81.90/bbl as of 17:15 BST (time of writing). This recent support likely emerged on the back of US oil inventories data for the week ending 19 July released by the EIA at 15:30 BST today. The data showcased a 3.741mb draw in US crude oil inventories against median estimates of a 2.837mb draw. In addition, Cushing inventories witnessed a draw of 1.708mb, surpassing the 1.6mb draw predicted by the API last night. Interestingly, however, refinery utilization has declined by a further 2.1% to 91.6%. In refined fuel, US gasoline stocks witnessed a remarkable 5.572mb draw (median estimates: 1.11mb build), while distillate fuel oil inventories witnessed a 2.753mb draw (median estimates: 1mb build). In other news, crude oil deliveries to India, the world’s third-largest oil importer and consumer, fell by 5.6% y/y and 16.25% m/m to 18.45 million metric tonnes in June to their lowest since February. In macroeconomic news, the Bank of Canada lowered its key interest rate by 25 basis points to 4.5% for the second month in a row. The central bank also lowered its 2024 GDP forecast down from 1.5% to 1.2%. Finally, at the time of writing, the front-month and six-month Brent futures spreads stand at $0.90/bbl and $3.50/bbl, respectively.
