The Aug’25 Brent futures contract saw a volatile morning, with prices between $64.91/bbl and $65.20/bbl. At 11:10 BST (time of writing), prices were at $65.19/bbl. In the news, Trafigura reported a 3% rise in net profit to $1.52B for the first half of its 2025 fiscal year, despite a 4% revenue drop to $119.2B due to lower commodity prices. The gain comes after a sharp earnings decline in 2024, following a $1.1B fraud and the end of a post-pandemic commodity boom. CEO Richard Holtum took over in January amid ongoing global market volatility. Oil and gas trading volumes held steady at 7.2mb/d, while metals and bulk minerals volumes fell as the firm shifted focus to profitability. In other news, Iraq’s oil ministry has accused the Kurdish regional government (KRG) of illegally smuggling oil abroad and warned it will pursue legal action. Baghdad says the KRG’s non-compliance with a 2022 federal court ruling is undermining exports and revenues, forcing Iraq to curb output elsewhere to meet OPEC quotas. Talks to restart Kurdish oil exports via Turkey remain stalled over payment and contract issues. MIT engineers have developed a revolutionary membrane-based method for separating crude oil into fuels, potentially cutting energy use by up to 90% compared to traditional distillation. The new polymer membrane filters oil components by molecular size rather than boiling point, eliminating the need for energy-intensive heating. The membrane is scalable using existing manufacturing techniques and could significantly reduce the carbon footprint of fuel production. Finally, the front-month Aug/Sep spread is at $0.62/bbl and the 6-month Aug/Feb’26 spread is at $1.41/bbl.
