The Oct’24 Brent futures contract firmed up to $80.90/bbl around 09:05 BST, following which the flat price sold off to $79.65/bbl at 11:35 BST (time of writing). A new round of ceasefire talks for the war in Gaza began on Thursday and remains in progress in Doha, with Qatar’s prime minister joining spy chiefs from Israel, the US and Egypt for the meeting. Hamas officials have accused Israel of stalling and will not be joining the talks, instead opting to consult with mediators after the meeting. In other news, SLB is reportedly expanding in Russia and has stated no plans to leave amid rivals Baker Hughes and Halliburton’s exit from the country in 2022. Elsewhere, Japanese investment data showed that Japanese investors invested the most in long-term overseas bonds in 12 weeks over the week ending 10 August while also buying short-term foreign debt, highlighting recovering appetite following last Monday’s sell-off. Finally, at the time of writing, the Oct/Nov’24 and Oct/Apr’25 Brent futures spreads stand at $0.76/bbl and $2.60/bbl, respectively.
