The Nov’24 Brent futures contract began strong last week, reaching $80.15/bbl on 26 Aug amid thin liquidity from players exiting for the bank holiday in the UK. This strength was also attributed to supply outages in Libya.
Money managers were more bullish in the crude futures benchmarks in the week ending 27 August. In both Brent and WTI futures we saw an addition of long positions and a liquidation of short positions. Bullish sentiment was boosted in crude futures as investors became more sanguine about economic growth prospects following Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium, as he hinted towards the beginning of a rate easing cycle from the next meeting in September. Moreover, supply disruption concerns mounted as Libya’s eastern-based government announced the closure of all oil fields which halted production and exports.
Nov’24 Brent futures flat price showed volatility this morning, rallying from $76.37/bbl at 07:00 BST to $77.18/bbl at 10:15 BST, before steeply declining to $76.80/bbl at 11:00 BST (time of writing). In the news today, Guyana raised their 2024 GDP growth estimate to 42.3%, following a surge in oil production offshore in the Stabroek block. In other news, further data has been published showing the weakening of China’s economy. Chinese manufacturing PMI has declined to 49.1 from 49.4, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Saturday, with factory activity in contraction for the fourth month in a row. In light of this, economists at banks including UBS and J.P. Morgan expect China will not reach its growth target of 5% for 2024. Finally, the oil depot fire in Russia’s Rostov region has been extinguished, two weeks after Ukraine’s latest drone attack on Russian energy infrastructure. At the time of writing, the front month (Nov/Dec’24) and six-month (Nov/May’25) Brent futures spreads are at $0.75/bbl and $2.38/bbl, respectively.
Show Me the Demand! The Nov’24 Brent futures contract was trading at around $77.05/bbl at 09:00 BST (time of writing), and we expect it to end the week trading between $75-78/bbl. Amid the varying factors impacting the benchmark crude futures,
The Nov’24 Brent futures contract recorded a weaker afternoon ahead of Oct’24 Brent’s expiry today. The Nov’24 flat price dropped from $79/bbl at noon to $76.70/bbl at 15:00 BST. Prices found more support here and firmed up to $77.25/bbl at 17:25 BST (time of writing). OPEC+ is reportedly set to proceed with their planned increase in oil output from October, multiple sources from the producer group told Reuters. The plan includes an output boost of 180kb/d in October by eight OPEC+ members and is part of a larger plan to begin unwinding their recent layer of output cuts equalling 2.2mb/d while keeping other cuts in place until the end of 2025. In other news, a poll of 37 analysts and economists surveyed by Reuters over the past fortnight forecast that Brent futures would average $82.86/bbl in 2024 – recording a fourth cut in Reuters’ estimates (July: $83.66/bbl). In macroeconomic news, US consumer spending increased 0.5% in July’24 (prev: 0.3%) while the PCE, the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, increased by 0.2% in July’24 (June: 0.2%), up 2.5% y/y. Finally, at the time of writing, the Nov/Dec’24 and Nov/May’25 Brent futures spreads stood at $0.80/bbl and $2.45/bbl, respectively.
Jakarta, August 30, 2024 – Jakarta Futures Exchange (JFX) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Onyx Capital Group to develop new energy products. The new futures contracts will be jointly designed and managed. The MOU signing ceremony took place
QatarEnergy’s joint venture, which aims to convert the Golden Pass LNG import terminal in Texas into a large-scale export facility, has requested a three-year extension from US authorities to complete the project by 30 November 2029
Nov’24 Brent futures flat price was volatile this morning, strengthening from $79.14/bbl at 07:00 BST to a high of $79.49/bbl at 08:25 BST before declining to $78.81 at 11:20 BST (time of writing). In the news today, OPEC’s secretary general visited Baghdad, Iraq, securing assurance on full conformity with compensation cuts, which plan to reduce Iraq’s output to between 3.85-3.9 mb/d in September. In other news, Reuters confirmed this morning that no oil spill has been detected off the coast of Yemen, after an abandoned 274-metre-long oil tanker, containing around 1 mb, was attacked by Houthi rebels. An oil spill of this magnitude with 150,000 tonnes of crude would be more than half the size of the largest ever spill recorded from a ship, according to the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited (ITOPF). Finally, Shell has decided to cut 20% of its workers in oil and gas exploration units, focused in the US, Netherlands, and Britain. At the time of writing, the front month (Nov/Dec’24) and six-month (Nov/May’25) Brent futures spreads are at $0.87/bbl and $2.81/bbl, respectively.
Nov’24 Brent futures flat price rallied this afternoon, increasing from $77.72/bbl at 12:00 BST to a high of $79.55/bbl at 15:00 BST before coming to rest around $78.47/bbl at 17:45 BST (time of writing). In the news, Typhoon Shanshan hit Japan’s southwestern island of Kyushu, with three people reported dead and one missing, according to Bloomberg. The storm hit the city of Kagoshima at top speeds of 123mph and is heading towards the main island of Honshu, where the major port of Mizushima and multiple oil refineries are located. In other news, US Q2’24 GDP was revised up to 3% y/y, primarily driven by consumer spending. At the same time, US weekly jobless claims fell by 2,000 to 231,000 in the week ending 24 Aug against a Reuters poll forecasting 232,000 claims for this week. Lastly, Iraq plans to cut oil output to 3.85-3.9mb/d in September 2024, and cancelled a spot cargo of 1mb in August to reduce exports, a source told Reuters. At the time of writing, the front month (Nov/Dec’24) and six-month (Nov/May’25) Brent futures spreads are at $0.82/bbl and $2.63/bbl respectively.
In this week’s crude pendulum, we swung above $80 and back down again in a (co)sinusoidal fashion. Range trading seems to be the play here, and the trend-latching CTAs would have likely been well rewarded. The amount of outright managed money shorts in the main oil futures benchmarks is exceedingly high compared to historical levels, pressuring the long:short ratio of Brent futures down to levels last seen during Covid.
