Sep’25 Brent futures were supported in the early morning, from $69.25/bbl at 03.40 BST to fail to hold strength above $69.60/bbl at 06.45 BST. The contract has since softened to around $68.95/bbl at 11.25 BST (time of writing). Turkey will exit its crude oil pipeline agreement with Iraq, signed in 1973 and extended in 2010, effective 27 July 27 2026, per a presidential decree published today. The Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, built under the deal, has been idle since March 2023 after an international court ruled Turkey breached the pact by letting the KRG export oil outside Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO). The announcement comes days after Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government struck a new deal on 17 Jul requiring the KRG to deliver 230kb/d. The EU has sanctioned Iranian oil trader Hossein Shamkhani and his Dubai-based firms Admiral Group and Milavous Group for aiding Russia’s oil trade. Shamkhani, son of a top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, was called “a central player” in Russia’s shadow fleet and accused of supporting a key revenue source for Moscow amid its war in Ukraine. BP named outsider Albert Manifold, former CEO of CRH, as its new chairman from October, succeeding Helge Lund amid investor pressure, weak shares, and a strategic shift away from renewables. Manifold, who grew CRH’s value nearly fivefold, is expected to push for cost cuts and a return to BP’s oil and gas focus as shares have lagged rivals. At the time of writing, the Sep/Oct’25 and Sep/Mar’26 Brent futures spreads stand at $0.78/bbl and $2.26/bbl, respectively.
