The front-month (Oct’25) Brent futures saw support this afternoon and briefly breached the $67/bbl handle at various points, the most recent of which was seen at circa 15:05 BST. However, the contract met resistance here and eased to $66.40/bbl by 16:15 BST. Prices subsequently moved between $66.50-66.80/bbl and stood at $66.70/bbl at 17:35 BST (time of writing). Iraq’s state news agency reported a gradual restoration of power following a significant power outage that hit central and Southern Iraq on Monday due to a sudden shutdown at the Hamidiya power plant in the western province of Anbar. In other news, Malaysian NOC Petronas has announced plans to increase the share of its international portfolio from 40-50% to 60% of its total business over the next decade. Moreover, US LNG developer NextDecade has secured $1.8 billion in funding from TotalEnergies and Global Infrastructure Partners to finance a fourth liquefaction plant at its Rio Grande LNG export project in Texas. In macro news, China continues to struggle with deflationary pressures, as per the National Bureau of Statistics, with a larger-than-expected decline of 3.6% y/y in July 2025 and an unchanged CPI print m/m. Finally, at the time of writing, the front-spread (Oct/Nov’25) and six-month (Oct/Apr’26) Brent futures contract stand at $0.63/bbl and $1.48/bbl, respectively.
