The Brent futures flat price for the prompt contract has seen an overall strong morning. Price action initially weakened to below the $82/bbl mark at 08:35 GMT, inspiring some buying interest as the contract rallied to reach $83/bbl at 10:05 GMT. Last night, the API announced a draw in US crude oil inventories, equating to 5.5mbbls and marking the first API draw in six weeks. The market awaits results from the EIA, forecasted for release later today at 14:30 GMT. OPEC has released its monthly report, maintaining its current demand growth forecast of 2.25mbbls/d. Further damage has been disclosed following the wave of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil infrastructure, with Rosneft’s Ryazan oil refinery, Russia’s seventh largest, being set alight. Overall, in the past two days, Ukrainian strikes have damaged facilities accounting for more than 10% of Russia’s oil processing capacity. The front and 6-month Brent futures spreads are at $0.48/bbl and $3.43/bbl, respectively.
