The Oct’25 Brent futures contract has been rangebound in the $66/bbl handle this morning: price action climbed from $66.05/bbl on 06:50 BST to $66.72/bbl on 09:45 BST, where it met resistance and eased to $66.15/bbl at 11:00 BST. At the time of writing, 11:35 BST, prices stand at $66.40/bbl. The American Petroleum Institute (API) has estimated a 2.417mb decline in US crude oil inventories in the week ending 15 Aug, alongside a 0.112mb decline in stocks at Cushing, Oklahoma. On the refined products side, the API estimates printed a 0.956mb draw in US gasoline stocks and a 0.535mb build in US distillate fuel oil inventories. The US EIA will announce official data on these figures at 15:30 BST today. In other news, BP stated that operations at its 440kb/d refinery in Whiting, Indiana, were impacted by flooding following a thunderstorm. Meanwhile, Norway’s production of oil, condensate, NGLs and gas stood at 0.672 million standard cubic metres/day (around 4.23 million barrels of oil equivalent), recording a decrease of 2.9% y/y, although still exceeding expectations by 3.9%, as per the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD). This decline was driven by a decrease in natural gas production to 328.3 mcm in July (360.7 mcm in July 2024), although crude oil output increased to 1.96mb/d in July from 1.83mb/d in July 2024. Finally, at the time of writing, the front spread (Oct/Nov’25) and six-month (Oct/Apr’26) Brent futures spreads stand at $0.50/bbl and $1.30/bbl, respectively.
