The Aug’25 Brent futures contract rallied all afternoon to $65.86/bbl at 17:11 BST, but has since softened a little to $65.66/bbl at 17:40 BST (time of writing). In headlines, Venezuela’s May oil exports held steady at ~779kb/d, with rising shipments to China of 584 kb/d offsetting the end of US-authorized sales; Chevron and Reliance deliveries ceased, and PDVSA began independent Boscan crude exports to Asia. In other news, according to Reuters, refining margins hit their highest since March 2024 due to tight fuel oil supply, strong summer demand, and outages, though analysts warn the surge may be short-lived. Meanwhile, new US-Iran nuclear talks are underway, but major obstacles remain, including Iran’s refusal to halt enrichment or export its enriched uranium. Any new agreement would need to restore robust IAEA oversight and reconstruct a “baseline” of Iran’s nuclear activities, an effort experts say will be difficult and potentially incomplete due to long-standing information gaps. At the time of writing (17:40 BST), the prompt (Aug/Sep) and 6-month (Aug/Feb) Brent Spreads were at $0.66/bbl and $1.57/bbl.
