The soon-to-be-prompt October Brent futures contract dipped to $79.55/bbl at 14:00 BST, where it found support and climbed to $81.10/bbl as of 17:35 BST (time of writing). Russia announced on Wednesday that its crude oil production in June exceeded OPEC+’s quotas and stressed that it would resolve the issue, with Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak insisting that the country is seeing “no friction” with the producer group over the problem. In China, total fuel oil imports fell by 11% in 1H’24 to 11.95 million tonnes. In macroeconomic news, initial claims for state unemployment benefits in the US fell by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 235,000 for the week ending 20 July. However, Q2’24 US GDP grew 2.8% y/y (Q1’24: 1.4% y/y) against a Reuters poll forecasting a rise of 2.0% y/y. Elsewhere, the German Ifo index saw its third consecutive monthly drop, falling to 87.0 in July from 88.6 in June. Finally, at the time of writing, the Oct/Nov and Oct/Apr’24 Brent futures spreads stand at $0.78/bbl and $3/bbl, respectively.
