The Jan’25 Brent futures contract sold-off mid-afternoon from $72.20/bbl at 13:30 GMT down to $70.80/bbl at 15:00 GMT, however, made a recovery to $72.35/bbl at 18:00 GMT (time of writing). Crude prices saw pressure amid Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad’s statement that Iran has taken measures to sustain oil production and exports in preparation for potential Trump sanctions, claiming “there is no reason to be concerned”. Meanwhile, 13 Nov’s EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook projected that India could account for 25% of total oil consumption growth globally in 2024 and 2025, with withdrawals from global oil inventories expected to increase amid ongoing geopolitical risk and OPEC+ production cuts. In the news today, the Mexican government is expected to unveil a draft for its 2025 budget later this week, in which $6 billion from the budget could be allocated to support the debt obligations of state oil giant Pemex, according to a Bloomberg report. Pemex’s total debt sits at almost $100 billion, with around $9 billion in debt maturing next year. In other news, the Russian Energy Minister Sergey Tsivilev said it could be possible to lift the gasoline export ban, currently in force until the end of the year, now that there is stability in domestic fuel supply. Finally, in macroeconomic news, the release of US CPI data at 13:30 GMT today showed an increase to 2.6% in October from 2.4% in September, in line with market expectations. At the time of writing, the Jan/Feb’25 and Jan/Jul’25 Brent futures spreads stand at $0.35/bbl and $1.19/bbl, respectively.
