The Aug Brent Futures flat price has had a weak afternoon, falling steadily from $84.50/bbl at 12:00 BST to $83.80/bbl at 14:50 BST. Subsequently, the contract saw a short-lived rise to $84.05/bbl at 15:00 BST, before then dropping to $83.30/bbl handles by 17:00 BST (time of writing). ConocoPhillips announced today that they have entered into a definitive agreement whereby they will acquire smaller rival Marathon Oil in an all-stock deal worth $22.5 billion (inclusive of $5.4 billion of net debt). Significantly, the deal will hand Conoco a suite of assets stretching from North Dakota to Texas as it seeks to bolster its position in the US’ shale fields. Shell and ExxonMobil are nearing a deal to sell their jointly-owned gas fields in the southern North Sea to independent British producer Viaro Energy, with the deal valued at around $500 million. BHP Group have abandoned their $49 billion bid for Anglo-American, walking away from what would have been the largest mining deal in over ten years. Yemen’s Houthis stated they launched attacks at six ships in three different seas today, with cargo vessels attacked in the Red, Arabian and Mediterranean Seas. The July/Aug and Aug/Feb’25 spreads are $0.40/bbl and $2.83/bbl, respectively.
