Oct’24 Brent crude futures saw overall strength, rising from Wednesday evening lows of $78.16/bbl at 17:45 BST, to $78.54/bbl and $78.68/bbl by 20:30 BST and 02:15 BST respectively, now trading at $78.56/bbl as at 05:00 BST (time of writing). Strength in the flat price contract was found amid a fall in U.S. inventories, which shrank -3.7m bbls (exp: -1.6m bbls) in the week to 2 Aug, sparking hopes of tighter U.S. markets, especially as demand picked up in the travel-heavy summer season. But builds in gasoline and distillate inventories indicated that fuel demand may now be cooling after a strong summer. In the latest updates to Tropical Storm Debby, the storm brought unrelenting rain to the US Southeast on Wednesday, before picking up speed in the coming days and moving north. Russia said on Wednesday it was fighting intense battles against Ukrainian forces that had penetrated its southern border near a major natural gas transmission hub. Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) beat Wall Street estimates for Q2 profit by 34% on Wednesday, which is the first result since it closed the $12 billion acquisition of CrownRock last week. On the economic front, market participants will be looking out for China Y/Y inflation rate data for July which will be released on Friday 02:30 BST, forecasted to remain at +0.2%. June’s Y/Y inflation rate edged down to +0.2% from +0.3% in May. It was the fifth straight month of consumer inflation but the lowest figure since March amid a fragile economic recovery. Finally, the front and 6-month Brent futures spreads are at $0.70/bbl and $2.68/bbl respectively.
