The October Brent futures flat price suffered a setback on Tuesday afternoon as its sell-off accelerated following the US open. Price action fell from the $81/bbl level at 12:00 BST to lows of $79.63/bbl by 17:25 BST (time of writing). In line with this, Brent spreads weakened significantly, with Oct/Nov falling from $1.10/bbl to $0.90/bbl over the same time frame. The pullback is likely a technical correction lower following the recent rally, and it remains to be seen if this downtrend will be sustained. Russian crude oil exports to Hungary (436k tons) and Slovakia (356k tons) via Ukraine remained within normal levels in July despite Kyiv’s sanctions on Lukoil, as Tatneft stepped in to replace the bulk of the missing barrels. According to Reuters, several oilfields across Libya have halted output as closures spread, engineers said on Tuesday, amid a dispute over control of the central bank and oil revenue. Finally, the front (Oct/Nov) and 6-month (Oct/Apr) Brent futures spreads are at $0.94/bbl and $3.24/bbl respectively.
