The August Brent Futures contract saw a weak afternoon where prices initially saw strength rallying to an intraday high of $82.62/bbl as of 14:00 BST. Yet, after this initial strength, we saw a continuous tumble throughout the afternoon down to $81.00 as of 17:00 BST. It has since recovered slightly to $81.45/bbl at 17:23 BST (time of writing). India is still witnessing a crippling heatwave in May. To deal with these extreme conditions, power plants have been running non-stop to meet the demand load of 250million KW for the grid on May 30. Markets are poised for the OPEC+ meeting this Sunday, June 2nd where confirmation will be given on whether the output cuts of 2.2 mbbls/d will be extended. Due to a milder winter, relatively low demand in the US, dampened output from Chinese refineries and a slow recovery from spring maintenance by European refiners, these reductions are likely to continue. The Aug/Sep and Aug/Feb spreads are $0.25/bbl and $2.21/bbl, respectively.
