Mita Chaturvedi
The M1 Brent futures gapped lower this morning to $98.73/bbl this morning and has since eased further to $97.37/bbl at the time of writing....
Over the weekend, US President Donald Trump said that Washington and Tehran has "largely negotiated" an understanding on a peace deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Despite this, concerns remain as both parties continue to disagree over several issues, with President Trump still urging his represents not to rush into a deal. Both sides have presently played down hopes for a quick resolution on Monday, despite the weakness in crude prices. Meanwhile, ship tracking data showed three LNG tankers transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, heading to Pakistan, China and India, along with one VLCC, Eagle Verona, which is heading to China with Iraqi Basrah crude. In India, refiners have turned to imports from Latin America and Africa, namely from Venezuela, Brazil, Angola and Nigeria, to make up for the shortfall from Middle Eastern crude, while continuing to buy Russian oil - with preliminary data from Kpler showing India is due to receive 1.9mb/d of Russian oil in May. Also in India, state-owned fuel retailers increased diesel prices by 2.71 rupees ($0.0283) per litre and petrol prices by 2.61 rupees, marking the fourth hike in May to recoup losses. Finally, at the time of writing, the Jul/Aug'26 and Jul/Jan'26 Brent futures spreads stand at $2.90/bbl and $14.20/bbl, respectively.