The Oct’25 Brent futures contract has seen more support since declining to $67.55/bbl at 21:05 BST on 5 Aug. Prices have since risen to $68.65/bbl at 11:23 BST (time of writing), and appear to be meeting resistance at the $68.70/bbl handle. US envoy Steve Witcoff arrived in Moscow today on a last-minute mission to negotiate a de-escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war. This mission comes two days before US President Donald Trump’s 8 Aug deadline for Russia to agree to peace or face new sanctions, including secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian crude oil. Nevertheless, Russia has struck a gas facility in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, as per Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who called the attack an act of “a deliberate blow to our preparations for the heating season”. In other news, India’s power plants are tapping into their coal stockpiles and cutting their purchases from the state-run Coal India amid adequate supplies and a reduction in coal use for power generation despite growing electricity demand. Meanwhile, Germany’s cabinet has approved a draft bill to eliminate a gas storage levy for consumers to reduce energy costs. In macroeconomic news, the US ISM Services PMI softened to 50.1 in July, below expectations, with the employment index contracting for a fourth time in five months and the price pressure component climbing to its highest since October 2022. Finally, at the time of writing, the front (Oct/Nov’25) and six-month (Oct/Apr’26) Brent futures spreads stand at $0.70/bbl and $2.03/bbl, respectively.
