Vincent Wu
This morning Brent crude futures opened around $2 higher from Friday’s close around $95/bbl, reaching highs of $98/bbl before coming off towards $97/bbl by 18:00 SGT (11:00 BST).
This morning Brent crude futures opened around $2 higher from Friday’s close around $95/bbl, reaching highs of $98/bbl before coming off towards $97/bbl by 18:00 SGT (11:00 BST). Renewed kinetic action between Iran and Israel have buoyed price action, amid a cycle of attacks that threatens to escalate towards a broader round of fighting in the Middle East. In a brief post on his Truth Social platform, President Trump said “Israel and Iran must immediately stop ‘shooting’”. In a telephone interview with the FT, he also stated that Israeli PM Netanyahu will have no choice but to accept any deal the US negotiates with Iran, because “I call all the shots.” Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthis on Monday announced the imposition of a “total ban” on Israeli ships navigating the Red Sea. In other news, Iranian crude has been offered at a discount to Chinese buyers in an effort to entice interest from teapots, where prices for Iranian Light for July arrival were offered at a discount below -$1/bbl to ICE Brent. Chinese refiners have delayed two projects slated to come online this year following disruptions to Middle Eastern oil supplies, affecting a combined capacity of 500kb/d, which could cap fresh Chinese oil demand. ADNOC has issued a second tender in a week to sell crude oil from the UAE, where the company is offering cargos of Upper Zakum, Umm Lulu and das crude for June to August loading. Finally, the Aug/Sep’26 and Aug/Feb’27 Brent futures spreads are at $2.44/bbl and $11.28/bbl respectively.