The Oct’25 Brent crude futures was rangebound and traded between $66.50 to $67/bbl on Tuesday morning, printing $66.86/bbl at 11:00 BST (time of writing). Brent’s bearish trend was halted this week as in the money shorts likely took profit, while China and the US extended their tariff truce until 10 November, easing concerns that their trade war would hit oil consumption. Markets are largely in a wait-and-see mode ahead of the Trump-Putin summit on Friday. In the news, TotalEnergies is planning a drilling campaign offshore South Africa in a vast basin that includes major oil discoveries in neighbouring Namibia. Sinochem has delivered its first Middle East crude cargo in the Platts Dubai physical window – an Oman crude cargo for October loading to Trafigura. India’s HMEL plans to shut its 226kb/d Bathinda oil refinery in Punjab for about 40 days from early November for maintenance. Finally, the front (Oct/Nov) and 6-month (Oct/Apr) Brent futures spreads are at $0.60/bbl and $1.50/bbl respectively.
