The July Brent futures flat price has been struggling to garner support this afternoon, sliding down from its daily high of $83.55/bbl at 11:25 BST to its first low of $82.25/bbl at 14:20 BST. Following this, Brent rallied up to $83.15/bbl at 15:00, however these gains have been wiped out since, with the price falling to $82.10/bbl handles by 17:15 BST (time of writing). OPEC+ countries are reopening the intense debate over members’ oil production capacity, with the UAE, Kazakhstan and Iraq’s output for 2025 under scrutiny, in a situation mirroring that which prompted Angola to quit the cartel last year. The South Sudanese economy is being pushed to brink of collapse after a months-long halt to its crude oil exports due to a rupture on its export pipeline through Sudan. The country, which was producing 150kbbls/d of crude until February, has only been able to produce 70kbbls/d and 60kbbls/d in March and April, respectively. Japan’s Idemitsu has posted a 41 billion yen ($262 million) loss related to its Vietnamese holding Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical due to heavy costs from rising US interest rates, although it expects the facility to turn profitable in 2025 through plans to boost its run rate by 15% to 20% this year. The front and 6-month spreads are $0.42/bbl and $2.88/bbl, respectively.
