The Dec’24 Brent futures contract saw sustained strength this morning, trading at $75.73/bbl at 07:00 BST and moving up to $76.50/bbl at 11:10 BST (time of writing). Price was supported amid intensifying regional conflict in the Middle East and reports of North Korean troops ready to aid Russia in Ukraine. In the news today, Israel has launched strikes on the Syrian capital Damascus and a military site near the city of Homs, killing one soldier and injuring seven others, as per Reuters. Meanwhile, Russian President Putin said today that the Middle East is on the brink of a full-scale war, in a statement made at a meeting of the BRICS+ group in Russia. In other news, Transocean is in talks to merge with rival offshore drilling contractor Seadrill, looking to capitalize on the boom in deepwater oil exploration, according to Bloomberg. After the announcement, US shares of Seadrill jumped 10% while Transocean shares were up 3.7%. Finally, refiners on the US Gulf Coast have been increasingly turning to Latin American heavy crude, with Mexican state-owned Pemex and Valero Energy both buying Colombian grades, as per Bloomberg. This came as the Trans Mountain line diverted Canadian oil to Asia, with US refiners seeing their usual supply thinning. 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 $1.86/bbl, respectively.
