Donna Dong
The Jul’26 Brent futures contract dropped initially from $101.79/bbl at 07:14 BST to $97.97/bbl at 08:18 BST, before climbing back to $99.15/bbl as of the time of writing at 11:11 BST.
In the news, Iran is expected to respond to the US’ peace proposal today, as the nations attempt to move closer to a resolution. This follows a statement from US President Donald Trump that the US had “very good talks” with Iran over the last 48 hours. However, the US have continued to enforce its blockade within the Strait of Hormuz, as the US military fired on an Iranian-flagged tanker headed into an Iranian port overnight yesterday. Elsewhere, Tokyo and the United Arab Emirates agreed this week during ministerial talks to further their energy cooperation efforts, with Japan aiming to expand its joint crude oil stockpiles and increase UAE crude supplies. Narumi Hosokawa, deputy director-general for immediate crisis management at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), told reporters that further details (including the volume of additional stockpiles and extra UAE supplies) will be discussed later. In other news, US exports of oil products hit a record high last week as the country continues to compensate for fuel supply disruptions caused by the Iran war. Shipments increased to 8.2mb/d, according to data released Wednesday by the US Energy Information Administration. Ongoing strong demand for fuels such as diesel, jet fuel, and gasoline contributed to a new record for product exports. Finally, at the time of writing, the front-month (Jul/Aug) and 6-month (Jul/Jan) Brent futures spreads are at $3.89 and $16.45, respectively.