The Aug’25 Brent futures contract slightly fell off to $67.13/bbl before rallying to $67.95/bbl at 16:35 BST. Prices have since softened to $67.47/bbl at 17:45 BST (time of writing). In the news, US-China trade talks continue in London, President Trump described the discussions as positive, fuelling market confidence. Irving Oil has begun a $100 million upgrade of the fluid catalytic cracking unit at its St. John refinery in New Brunswick, Canada’s largest refinery with a capacity of 320kb/d. The project aims to enhance the facility’s ability to produce gasoline and diesel, and is expected to create 675 construction jobs. New permitting guidelines for wastewater disposal wells in Texas are expected to raise costs for oil producers. The rules aim to limit injection pressures and volumes to prevent produced water from contaminating freshwater sources, particularly in the Permian Basin. These changes could increase water disposal costs by 20–30% in parts of the Delaware sub-basin, where water-to-oil ratios are high and seismic activity has grown due to heavy injection volumes. In other news, ADNOC Gas has approved a $5B investment for the first phase of its Rich Gas Development Project, aiming to expand processing capacity and efficiency at its onshore and offshore facilities. Contracts were awarded to UK firms Wood Group, Petrofac, and Kent. Finally the front-month Aug/Sep and 6-monht Aug/Feb’26 spreads are at $0.80/bbl and $2.31/bbl respectively.
