Aug ’25 Brent futures slumped overnight to reach $64.90/bbl at 08.30 BST before rising to $65.35/bbl at 11.30 BST (time of writing). Prices are on track for the first weekly gain in three weeks. Equinor has announced Norway’s Mongstad oil refinery is ramping up its output following an outage. China’s consumer inflation eased in March, with the CPI down 0.1% y/y, an improvement from February’s 0.7% drop, and core CPI rose 0.5%, hinting at recovering demand. Food prices fell less sharply, and the monthly CPI decline was linked to ample food supply, off-season travel, and lower oil prices. However, factory-gate prices continued to weaken, as the Producer Price Index (PPI) dropped 2.5%y/y, pointing to ongoing pressure on industrial demand. Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) has reportedly signed at least nine new agreements with foreign service providers, including two Chinese companies, to maintain oil production and sustain foreign currency inflows following the exit of Chevron due to US sanctions. The companies involved include Aldyl Argentina, Anhui Guangda Mining Investing and China Concord Resources, according to internal PDVSA documents reviewed by Bloomberg. According to the document, PDVSA predicts that the nine blocks under these 20-year contracts will yield a combined 600kb/d with $20bn (1.97trn bolivars) in capital expenditure. In April, Spain halted crude oil imports from Venezuela ahead of the US sanctions deadline set by the Trump administration. Repsol had been receiving Venezuelan oil from PDVSA as debt repayment but was ordered to wind down operations by May 27. The move followed a surge in imports earlier in 2024. Finally, the front-month Aug/Sep spread is $0.61/bbl, and the 6-month Aug/Feb ’26 spread is $1.50/bbl.
