The Sep’25 Brent futures contract initially climbed up to $68.73 at 07:27 BST before falling to $68.35/bbl at 08:34 BST. Prices have since jumped up to $68.95/bbl at 11:32 BST (time of writing). In the news, Russia’s oil and gas revenue dropped 33.7% y/y in June, reaching 494.8 Bn roubles ($6.29 Bn) due to weak oil prices and a stronger rouble. Oil and gas revenue also fell by 3.5% compared to May. In the first half of the year, revenue declined by nearly 17% compared to 2024, totalling 4.73 trillion roubles. The government has revised its oil and gas revenue forecast for the year down to 8.32 trillion roubles, from an initial 10.94 trillion. In other news, the Shandong provincial government in China has increased fuel oil import tax rebates for six independent refineries to help improve profitability as they face low margins and reduced fuel demand. The tax rebate increase, which applies to teapot refiners like Chambroad Petrochemicals and Hongrun Petrochemical, boosts the rebate for gasoline and diesel refined from imported fuel oil by 25%. The move aims to encourage these refiners to process fuel oil and tar-like heavy residue into transportation fuels. BlackRock is in talks with Saudi Aramco to divest its stake in the leasing rights of a natural gas pipeline network back to the state oil major, according to a Bloomberg report. BlackRock acquired the stake in 2021, and it is estimated to be worth billions of dollars. Finally, the front-month Sep/Oct spread is at $1.22/bbl and the 6-month Sep/Mar’26 spread is at $3.30/bbl.
