The November Brent Futures contract has seen a stronger morning, steadily climbing to $70.84/bbl at the time of writing (11:20 BST) following the sharp sell-off yesterday, amid expectations that Hurricane Francine may disrupt oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico. We noted that Brent fell yesterday amid no visible changes in fundamentals as risk aversion gripped markets; this was evidenced in gold moving higher and bond yields declining markedly. In headlines, Exxon is planning to cut production at its 523 kb/d Baton Rouge refinery to 20% ahead of Francine’s expected landfall, as reported by Reuters. Exxon stated its focus is on workforce safety and meeting customer commitments, as major producers like Chevron and Shell evacuated offshore crews earlier in the week. As anticipated, Francine has since strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane, set to make landfall in Louisiana later today. Meanwhile, ADNOC is set to make a formal $15.9 billion offer, including debt, to acquire Germany’s chemicals giant Covestro, according to the Financial Times. This would mark one of the largest cash transactions in the chemicals industry and the first DAX 40 company to be acquired by a Gulf state entity. Covestro began concrete negotiations with ADNOC after the offer was raised from $12.9 billion, as ADNOC aims to expand its chemicals portfolio as part of its diversification strategy. At the time of writing, the Nov/Dec and Nov/May’25 are at $0.43/bbl and $1.20/bbl, respectively.
