The Aug Brent Futures flat price has had a rangebound morning period, trading between $82.25/bbl and $82.45/bbl since 04:00 BST, except for a brief fall to $82.20/bbl at 05:30 BST. Price action has settled around $82.35/bbl, where it sits as of 06:00 BST (time of writing). China’s oil refiners are slowing down after decades of growth, with processing lower or flat year-on-year for the first time since 2004 (excluding Covid-hit 2022) and refiners reporting having at least 1mb/d of spare processing capacity that they won’t use due to poor demand. BP’s 435kb/d Whiting refinery in Indiana plans a major turnaround in coming months. Tesla shareholders have backed a record-breaking pay packaged for CEO Elon Musk that could be worth up to $56 billion and approved a plan to move the firm’s legal headquarters to Texas. The G7 has agreed to use frozen Russian assets to raise a $50 billion loan to Ukraine and whilst not expected to arrive until the end of 2024, the money is seen as a longer-term solution to supporting Ukraine’s war effort and economy. Notably, the $325 billion worth of Russian assets frozen by the G7 and EU following the onset of the war in 2022 has been generating $3 billion annually. The front and 6-month spreads are $0.41/bbl and $2.63/bbl, respectively.
