The Oct’24 Brent futures witnessed a largely rangebound afternoon, with the flat price first falling from $79.50/bbl at 13:10 BST to $78.85/bbl around 15:10 BST, only to firm up to $79.70/bbl at 17:25 BST (time of writing). The benchmark crude futures contract is now eyeing to terminate a four-week run of w/w losses. Russia surpassed its July oil production quota by 67kb/d relative to levels agreed with OPEC+ despite declining m/m production. In other news, Japanese refiner Eneos Holdings reported a 78% rise in Q2’24 net profit, driven by higher margins in its materials and electricity segments. Moreover, China’s consumer prices climbed to a five-month high of 0.5% y/y in July ’24 (prev: +0.2%, Reuters’ expectation: +0.3%), while the PPI fell by 0.8% y/y (prev: -0.8%, Reuters’ expectation: -0.9%). Canada saw a decline of a net 2,800 jobs in July, against a Reuters poll forecasting a net gain of 22,500 jobs, with increases in full-time work offset by part-time job losses. The unemployment rate stayed at a 30-month high of 6.4%, and the country’s participation rate dropped to a 26-year low of 65%, excluding the pandemic year. Finally, at the time of writing, the Oct/Nov ’24 and Oct/Apr ’25 Brent futures spreads stood at $0.75/bbl and $2.85/bbl, respectively.
