Brent Eases as Wright Says Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline to Restart in Days

In the news, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC that crude oil should be flowing through Saudi Arabia's East-West Pipeline within days, after the kingdom was forced to temporarily close it after attacks by Iran-aligned groups. "It's still a detailed assessment, but I think it will be measured in days," Wright said on the sidelines of a G20 energy meeting in Houston, adding that Saudi Arabia is working to move more oil out of the Strait of Hormuz with US military assistance. Reuters sources have suggested that the damage could take five to six weeks to fix, though others have said that the pipeline could resume partial pumping sooner while repairs continue. Elsewhere, Rosneft's oil refineries in the Volga cities of Syzran and Saratov have stopped processing following Ukrainian drone attacks this month. Syzran was halted on 15 Sep and Saratov suspended on 11 Sep. Russia and Ukraine continued striking each other's energy infrastructure this week despite Trump's announcement that they had agreed to stop. The refinery stoppages will likely deepen Russia's domestic fuel shortages, which had already prompted restrictions on gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel exports. Relatedly, Saudi Arabia has sold as much as 20mb of crude in the spot market this week for pickup just outside the Strait of Hormuz, after the pipeline outage forced it to shift more volume through the chokepoint. Chinese refiners and other East Asian crude processors have been the main buyers of the Saudi spot offerings. The cargoes are being sold for September/October loading onto other vessels outside Hormuz, meaning buyers avoid sending tankers into the Persian Gulf directly and instead pick up via ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman. Finally, as of the time of writing, the front month (Nov/Dec’26) and 6-month (Nov/May’27) Brent futures spreads are at $4.87/bbl and $18.85/bbl as of the time of writing, respectively.

Very choppy afternoon in Dated. Pre-window we sold off with Oct/Nov coming off. We saw buy side interest in 21-25 Sep 1-week but selling of Oct rolls with 12-16 Oct vs Cal Nov sold down to $7.20/bbl with multiple paper sellers. However saw buying back end Oct into Nov rolls with 26-30 Oct vs Cal Nov lifted $2.70/bbl and bid over, 28-3 Nov vs Cal nov lifted $2.39/bbl and 2-6 vs Cal Nov paid $1.77/bbl. The physical window was quieter with just 1 major bidding 2 Midland grades, one of which was hit by a refiner. In the paper window we saw two trade houses come out buying CFDs, pushing the market back up with Oct DFL trading $8.10/bbl post-window and buying of Cal Oct 26-30 at $4.40/bbl.

This afternoon in Brent/Dubai we continued to rally, with buying by trade and major and refiner buying of Q4 Brent/Dubai. The Dubai spreads continued to sell off throughout the day, the Oct/Nov Dubai spread trading down to $5.85/bbl just before the Euro window, before trade stepped in, buying Oct through Feb Dubai spreads. Backend Brent/Dubai was very quiet. The boxes all continued to move higher, we saw trade selling Oct/Nov box in good size around -$2/bbl and Nov/Dec box around -$0.36/bbl in good size. Bal Sep/Oct was offered by fund, bought by tradehouse, trading $18.85/bbl.

In VLSFO, Sing 0.5% spreads came under sell-side pressure this afternoon, although liquidity was thin, Oct/Nov'26 trading down from $48.75/mt in the early afternoon to $47.00/mt by window end. Once again, the Oct'26 Sing crack saw large volume traded on screen; it traded between $22.95/bbl and $23.10/bbl pre-window and then encountered real buying up to $23.50/bbl during the window. Prompt Euro 0.5 spread was relatively stable trading at $16.50/mt for the majority of the afternoon, it briefly sold down to $15.75/mt before rebounding to $16.25/mt post window, Nov/Dec'26 shed $1.50/mt to $21.50/mt. Oct'26 euro crack got bid up on screen from $1.50/bbl to $1.80/bbl during the window, 0.5 e/w has been implied a dollar higher to $137.25/mt

In HSFO, Chinese arbers were quiet this afternoon, 380 spreads came off with Oct/Nov'26 trading down from $37.00/mt to $35.50/mt, Nov/Dec'26 also shed $1.50/mt to $24.00/mt. Oct'26 380 crack was range-bound trading between -$2.25/bbl and -$2.25/bbl while Oct'26 380 e/w was initially implied 50c higher to $72.75/mt before retracing back to $71.75/mt. Barges also came off this afternoon, Oct/Nov'26 was offered down from $16.50/mt to $15.00/mt and the Oct'26 crack remained resilient, consistently trading at -$13.60/bbl despite sell-side pressure on screen.

This afternoon in distillates, Sing gasoil spreads moved lower, with Oct/Nov trading from $11.10/bbl down to 10.9. E/W saw some support in Nov at -$71/mt, while Dec traded at -$71.50/mt. Regrade was quiet, with the Oct/Nov regrade roll trading from -$6.05/bbl up to -$5.95/bbl.

Prompt ICE gasoil spreads sold off early afternoon before seeing strength, with Oct/Nov trading from $90/mt down to $86/mt, then back to $89.50/mt last while Nov cracks traded down to $88.50/mt before rallying back to $91/mt post window. European jet diffs sold off overall, with Oct trading from $145/mt down to $134/mt, while Q4 traded down to $145.50/mt.

This afternoon RBBRs went bid post-stats, trading around $29.30/bbl end window. Arbs rallied from -7c/gal to -5c/gal in the front as EBOB cracks saw better sellside interest around $36.20/bbl. Spreads were a touch weaker in the front, with Oct/Nov softening from $109/mt to $106/mt and Q1/2 crack roll was offered at -$5.15/bbl. E/W didn’t trade in the front, but cal was valued at -$6.40/bbl, and 92 cracks remained stable around $29/bbl in Oct.

This afternoon in naphtha was mixed, with MOC balanced and front cracks better bid on lower crude. MOPJ cracks were firmer versus the morning, with Oct'26 recovering from around $0.70/bbl to $1.20/bbl and Dec'26 around $1.30/bbl, while spreads were thin through the window but better bid after being offered earlier, with Oct/Nov'26 around $32.00/mt, Nov/Dec'26 around $32.00/mt, Oct/Dec'26 at $64.00/mt and Jan/Feb'27 at $27.50/mt. E/W was steady in the front but softer further out, with Oct'26 firm around $62.50/mt versus $63.50/mt this morning, Q1'27 offered down from $48.00/mt to $47.50/mt, and Cal 27 easing from $37.25/mt earlier to closer to $36.75/mt, while the boxes were bid, with Nov/Dec'26 around $2.00/mt, Jan/Feb'27 at $4.25/mt, and Q2/Q3'26 traded at $5.75/mt. NWE naphtha cracks strengthened from the morning lows on the crude move, with Oct'26 bid up aggressively from around -$6.50/bbl to -$5.80/bbl, Q1'27 around -$5.45/bbl and the Oct/Nov'26 roll at -$0.40/bbl; spreads were initially lower with Brent but found some support, as Oct/Dec'26 was bid from $60.00/mt to $63.00/mt by a regular buyer, while Dec/Jan'27 fell to $19.50/mt.

This afternoon in NGLs, FEI was softer on crude with flat price trading lower and spreads at this morning’s closing levels. Oct/Nov'26 FEI was trading at $38.00/mt before strengthening slightly to close the afternoon at $39.00/mt, and Nov/Dec'26 was at $35.00/mt where it closed the morning. Q1/2 27 FEI was lifted at $105.00/mt by Major, the same level as during Sing window. As FEI softened, Oct'26 LST/FEI priced up to trade at -$432.00/mt, up from the morning low of -$439.00/mt. In the deferred, Cal 27 arb was lifted at -$233.00/mt, and Q127 was trading at -$316.00/mt. LST spreads initially had buying in the deferred, seeing Q1/2 27 trading at 6.00c/gal, which eventually strengthened to close the afternoon at 6.125c/gal. Post stats, there was a surprising draw on propane stocks, and as a result US was stronger, with spreads and flat price trading up. Oct/Nov'26/Dec'26 LST fly traded at flat for good size, with US trade on the buyside. In butane, Oct/Nov'26 C4 ENT was trading at 1.625c/gal across the afternoon, and the Oct/Nov'26/Dec'26 fly was trading at flat. In the deferred, Q2/3 27 C4 ENT was sold at 4.00c/gal, up from 3.875c/gal at last night’s close. C4/C3 stronger again, with Nov'26 trading up to $51.00c/gal, and Dec'26 at 50.00c/gal. In Q127, C4/C3 was lifted at 44.00c/gal before softening into close printing 43.50c/gal.