Prompt Brent crude futures flat price strengthened overnight from $89/bbl handles at 17:00 BST, surpassing $91/bbl but coming off to $90.78/bbl handles at 10:00 BST, heading for a second weekly gain. This is on the back of geopolitical tensions in Europe and the Middle East, ongoing supply tightness after Mexico and the UAE cut exports, and optimism about global demand growth. NATO officials stated that ongoing Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries may have disrupted more than 15% of Russian fuel output capacity. South Korea and Malaysia are hopeful of a successful Free Trade Agreement, which could boost oil trades between the North and Southeast Asia, as well as lowering import and export costs. Iraq’s oil exports held steady in March, averaging 3.423mbpd compared to 3.434mbpd in the previous month. Economists expect 200K jobs in the U.S. were added in the month of March, compared to 275K in the previous month, pointing to a cooling labour market. U.S. non-farm payroll for March will be announced at 13:30 BST later today. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is expecting to remain steady at 3.9%, holding at two-year highs. The front and 6-month Brent futures spreads are at $0.98/bbl and $5.39/bbl respectively.
