The November Brent Futures contract has seen stronger price action this morning, reaching a peak around $71.86/bbl at 08:30 BST before retracing slightly and again rallying up to trade at $71.83/bbl at the time of writing (11:20 BST), as major producers extend production cuts and evacuations in the Gulf of Mexico. In recent developments, the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) reported that 46% of the Gulf of Mexico’s 371 manned platforms and 60% of personnel from five rigs have been evacuated, with four rigs moved off location due to Hurricane Francine. The loss of production amounts to approximately 675kb/d, and contributed to prices rising this morning, especially with Libyan production remaining largely offline but nonetheless despite bearish EIA data emerging yesterday. In other news, Saudi Aramco has signed additional agreements with China’s Rongsheng Petrochemical and Hengli Group, advancing talks on refining and petrochemical sector cooperation. Aramco signed a Development Framework Agreement with Rongsheng, exploring the joint development of Saudi Aramco Jubail Refinery Company (SASREF) and potential cross-investments. Rongsheng may acquire a 50% stake in SASREF, while Aramco could acquire 50% in Rongsheng’s Ningbo Zhongjin Petrochemical Co. Ltd. At the time of writing, the Nov/Dec and Nov/May’25 Brent spreads are at $0.55/bbl and $1.41/bbl, respectively.
