Donna Dong
The Jul’26 Brent futures contract dipped briefly below $100/bbl this afternoon, dipping to $97.08/bbl at 12:09 BST before rallying to $103.84/bbl at 14:08 BST. Prices weakened from here to $102.23/bbl at 16:45 BST (time of writing).
In the news, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei has said that the US’s proposal to end the way is “still being considered.” However, another Iranian official has described the American proposal as a “wish list” rather than “reality.” This came shortly after it was reported that Iran and the US were nearing an agreement on a potential one-page deal. Elsewhere, India's Reliance Industries will close certain units, including one CDU and some secondary units, at its 660kb/d refinery for 3 to 4 weeks to carry out maintenance after Nayara Energy resumes operations later this month. In other news, India's government-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corp has purchased 2mb of Oman crude for July delivery. HPCL acquired the oil from Vitol at a discount of 10-20 cents compared to June Dated Brent. In the US, the national average retail price of gasoline has exceeded $4.50/gallon for the first time since July 2022, according to GasBuddy data. As Memorial Day weekend approaches and the peak summer driving season begins, rising fuel prices pose a significant political challenge for President Donald Trump and his Republican allies as they prepare for the November midterm elections. Finally, at the time of writing, the front-month (Jul/Aug) and 6-month (Jul/Jan) Brent futures spreads are at $4.42/bbl and $18.58/bbl, respectively.