The July Brent futures flat price has had a mixed morning, first seeing a rapid uptick from $83.50/bbl at 06:50 BST to $83.85/bbl by 08:05 BST, before softening to $83.15/bbl by 10:40 BST. After this, it has retraced upwards to $83.30/bbl handles, where it currently resides as of 11:10 BST (time of writing). China has unveiled “historic” steps that seek to stabilize its crisis-hit property sector, allowing local governments to buy “some” apartments, relaxing mortgage rules and pledging to deliver unfinished homes, a significant step for the ‘universe’s most important sector’ worth an estimates $4.7 trillion annually, or 4.5% of global GDP. ADNOC is planning to set up a US trading desk and has held talks to recruit senior energy traders to oversee the expansion as part of its global growth plans according to an anonymous source working at the UAE-backed oil and gas producer. In geopolitical news, Russian air defenses and the Black Sea fleet intercepted a total of 102 Ukrainian drones and destroyed six unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) overnight. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak also announced Russia and China expect to sign a contract “in the near future” on the 2,600km Power of Siberia-2 gas pipeline, which will carry an estimate 50 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year from the Yamal region in northern Russian to China via Mongolia. The front and 6-month spreads are $0.37/bbl and $2.94/bbl, respectively.
