The October Brent futures flat price saw a supported performance on Wednesday morning, climbing by over $1 since 08:30 BST from $76.40/bbl to $77.50/bbl by 11:30 BST (time of writing). Price action is testing the $77.50/bbl resistance level, where the market failed to break on two separate occasions on the 2nd and 6th of August. According to the Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC), India’s oil demand rose by 7.4% y/y to 19.652 million tonnes in July. In contrast, China’s oil imports in July were at 9.97mb/d, the lowest on a daily basis since September 2022, underscoring concerns about weakening demand. Freight rates for dirty tanker voyages loading in West Africa have fallen to 10-month lows on weaker cargo demand levels and a seasonal lull in heating demand in Europe and the US. Saudi Aramco agreed to buy an additional stake in PetroRabigh from its joint venture partner Sumitomo for $702 million. Finally, the front (Oct/Nov) and 6-month (Oct/Apr) Brent futures spreads are at $0.55/bbl and $2.35/bbl respectively.
