The November Brent Futures contract has seen a mixed afternoon session, rising from around $67.81/bbl at 11:40 BST to the daily high of $68.57/bbl at 15:30 BST, before being sold into post-EIA stats release down to $68/bbl, and retracing back up to $68.29/bbl at the time of writing. In headlines, EIA stats showcased a significant -9.29mb draw in US crude stocks, contrasting expectations of a 1.77mb build, gasoline inventories also contracted 2.35mb over the week, while distillates rose 4.05mb. Japanese energy giant JERA is in advanced talks to buy shale gas assets in Louisiana’s Haynesville basin from GEP Haynesville II, a joint venture between GeoSouthern Energy and Williams Cos, in a deal valued at about $1.7 billion, Reuters reports. The move aligns with Japan’s pledge under the US-Japan trade agreement to boost American energy imports, including potential LNG offtake deals from Alaska. Separately, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Wednesday that Moscow and Washington are continuing talks on economic cooperation, highlighting the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project as a key area under discussion. The discussions, which follow reports that the US and Russia had considered Exxon’s possible return to Sakhalin-1 ahead of the Trump-Putin meeting in August, are part of broader proposals linking potential energy agreements to progress on Ukraine peace efforts and the possible easing of US sanctions on Moscow. At the time of writing, the front (Nov/Dec) and 6-month (Nov/May) Brent spreads are at $0.52/bbl and $1.54/bbl, respectively.
