The Sep’25 Brent futures contract fell to $68.34/bbl at 09:29 BST before jumping between $68.80/bbl and $68.29. At 11:30 BST (time of writing) prices were at $68.65/bbl. In the news, India is confident it can meet its oil needs from alternative sources if Russian supplies are disrupted by potential US secondary sanctions, according to Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. Responding to US President Donald Trump’s warning about sanctions if Russia doesn’t agree to a peace deal with Ukraine within 50 days, Puri emphasised India’s diversified supply network, which now spans about 40 countries, up from 27. Russia remains India’s top oil supplier, accounting for 35% of imports. In other news, ExxonMobil has resumed purchases of Mars crude for August delivery after temporarily halting them due to zinc contamination linked to a new offshore well by Chevron. The contamination issue had disrupted supply, prompting the US Department of Energy to authorize an emergency exchange of up to 1 mb from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to support Exxon’s operations. Due to the quality concerns, Mars crude has shifted from a $1/bbl premium to a $0.30/bbl discount compared to US Cushing crude. Guyana will scale back external borrowing for infrastructure projects, leveraging rising oil revenues to fund development more directly, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo announced. With offshore oil production expected to exceed 600kb/d by year-end, Jagdeo emphasised that government spending would be more tightly aligned with petroleum earnings. The move comes ahead of the September 1 general election, where the ruling PPP faces growing scrutiny over whether the oil boom has benefited the wider population. Finally, the front-month Sep/Oct and 6-month Sep/Mar’26 spread is at $0.97/bbl and $2.52/bbl respectively.v
