The July Brent futures flat price has been well-supported this morning following a rangebound night and a subsequent drop. Between 01:00-06:00 BST prices hovered between $87.00-$87.20/bbl, after which a low of $86.84/bbl was reached at 06:45 BST. Subsequently a rally to $87.40/bbl handles has been seen at 10:55 BST (time of writing). The US just changed the OFAC regime and authorised transactions with Russian banks in entities that ‘are related to energy’, which includes oil, meaning as of November 1st 2024, many of Russia’s largest banks will be again allowed to transact in global oil deals. In other news, a cargo of around 1mbbls of Iraqi Basrah crude has been delivered to ADNOC’s Ruwais refinery complex for the first time, a key sign of the company’s shift towards a heavier and more sour crude slate as part of their crude flexibility project (CFP). Poland’s President Donald Tusk has ordered a probe into a $370 million oil deal made by Orlen’s Swiss subsidiary, Orlen Swiss Trading, in a crude oil supply deal. In addition, Kpler reported OPEC output rose by 123kbbls/d to 26.8mbbls/d this month. The Jul/Aug and Jul/Jan’25 spreads were $0.86/bbl and $4.10/bbl respectively.
