The September Brent Futures has seen a weaker morning, after rising to $85.80/bbl at 08:00 BST, the contract corrected downwards to a low of $84.96/bbl at 10:30 BST, and is trading at $85.06/bbl at the time of writing (11:05 BST). Of particular note in price action were the moves in spreads, with WTI/Brent Futures only discounting -$3.60/bbl, contrasting -$4.00/bbl yesterday morning, as WTI prompt spreads firmed up faster than Brent. In headlines today, Alberta has reported 47 new wildfires in the past 24 hours amid extreme heat and dry weather, contributing to the 150 active wildfires in the province. Oil sands producers Canadian Natural Resources, Imperial Oil, and MEG Energy are closely monitoring the current situation, with fires currently raging within 6-7 miles of some of their production sites. In early July, Suncor shut down its Firebag oil sands project, which has a capacity of 215kb of crude daily, due to the wildfires. Suncor stated it would keep the site ready to return to full operation as soon as possible. Meanwhile, California has launched the first U.S. hydrogen hub, receiving $1.2 billion from the Biden Administration’s $7 billion program for clean hydrogen projects. The hub aims to cut fossil fuel use in public transportation, heavy-duty trucking, and port operations by 2 million metric tons annually, equivalent to the emissions of 445,000 gasoline-fueled cars. On the OPEC front, according to Bloomberg, OPEC+ delegates expect the group’s monitoring session next month to be routine, making no changes to plans for a supply hike starting in the fourth quarter. At the time of writing, the front and 6-month Brent Futures spreads are at $1.15/bbl and $4.19/bbl, respectively.
