The Dec’24 Brent futures contract showed further weakness this afternoon, trading at $74.21/bbl at 12:00 BST and moderating slightly to $74.10/bbl just after 17:20 BST (time of writing). Prices briefly spiked to $74.66/bbl shortly after 16:00 BST amid the release of EIA data showing a draw of 2.19mb in US crude oil inventories for the week ending 11 Oct. In the news today, Israeli ministers have been informed that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has likely been killed by Israeli troops in southern Gaza, according to Reuters. In other news, the UK has imposed the largest round of sanctions against Russia’s shadow fleet to date, targeting an additional 18 oil tankers and bringing the total of sanctioned oil vessels to 43. Finally, Libya’s oil ministry has denied unconfirmed rumours spread on social media that the National Oil Company head Farhat Bengdara has submitted his resignation to the interim prime minister, Abdulhamid Dbeibah. At the time of writing, the front month (Dec/Jan’25) and six-month (Dec/Jun’25) Brent futures spreads are at $0.45/bbl and $1.64/bbl, respectively.
