Nov’24 Brent futures flat price was volatile this afternoon, pricing at $71.68/bbl at 12:00 BST, with a high of $72.07/bbl at 12:53 BST and low of $70.68/bbl at 12:54 BST, before climbing to $71.94/bbl at 17:45 BST (time of writing). In the news today, tropical storm Francine has formed over the Gulf of Mexico and is set to hit the upper Texas and Louisiana coasts as a hurricane later this week. In response, Shell has paused drilling operations at its Perdido and Whale offshore platforms, both in the storm’s path according to Reuters. Exxon has also temporarily halted operations at the Hoover oil platform, offshore Texas. Meanwhile, the port of Freeport in Texas has decided to remain open to seaborne commercial traffic, on the condition that vessels report their movements. In other news, the ongoing shutdown of Libyan oil exports is propping up several light crude oil grades, including WTI Midland. European imports of WTI Midland have increased 24% m/m in August, reaching 1.43 mb/d. The US crude could replace lost volumes of Libyan crude in the short term, whilst Azeri and Algerian Saharan Blend will be refiners’ top choices for Libyan substitutes for October, according to Rystad Energy. Finally, Indian demand for oil products is down in August by 2.6% y/y as heavy rainfall has dampened diesel demand (-2.4% y/y). At the time of writing, the front month (Nov/Dec’24) and six-month (Nov/May’25) Brent futures spreads are at $0.45/bbl and $1.22/bbl, respectively.
