Jun Brent flat price has seen an interesting afternoon amid price action finally breaking into $91/bbl handles at 13:30 BST and hitting a peak of $92.10/bbl at 15:25 BST. While flat price came off from these highs, it continues to hover close to $91/bbl and was seen at $90.70/bbl at 17:25 BST. This afternoon’s support emerges alongside worries that Iran might retaliate against an attack by Israel on Iran’s embassy in Damascus. Despite the risk premium injected into the futures contract, some bearish news comes from the IEA trimming down its forecast for 2024 oil demand growth by 130kbbls/d to 1.2mbbls/d – adding that China’s post-COVID surge in demand had likely run its course. Moreover, the Biden administration has finalised a range of reforms to federal oil and gas drilling. Under the new reforms, drilling will be limited in sensitive wildlife and cultural areas. In addition, oil and gas companies will have to pay higher bonding rates to cover the cost of plugging abandoned oil and gas wells. Finally, the front-month and six-month Brent futures spreads are currently at $0.88/bbl and $4.90/bbl, respectively.
