The Brent futures flat price for the June contract has been retracing downward this morning, reaching a low of $84.59/bbl by 09:00 GMT with a recovery to just over $85.00/bbl by the time of writing (10:00 GMT). According to API statistics, crude oil inventories in the United States rose by 9.3 mbbls for the week ending Mar 22, however despite this, OPEC+ producers are unlikely to change their output policy at a technical meeting next week, according to Reuters. Oman is emerging as a hot spot for ship-to-ship transfers of Russian oil heading to India, as the US steps up scrutiny of the flows. Four tankers have passed their cargoes of Urals crude to other vessels in the country’s waters since early February, with the cargoes subsequently delivered to Indian ports. The United States and South Korea have joined forces to try and stop oil shipments to North Korea that contravene UN sanctions. EIA stats at 14:30 GMT today. The Jun/Jul and Jun/Dec Brent futures spreads are at $0.67/bbl and $3.96/bbl, respectively.
