Under the tropical storm warning along the Gulf Bay, Brent crude oil futures fluctuated slightly in the Asian market, with a spot premium in the North Sea market.
In Asian early trading, Ice Brent crude oil futures prices remained largely unchanged as the Gulf of Mexico faces the threat of a tropical storm.
As of 12:00 Beijing time, the main Brent crude oil contract for August was priced at $85.36 per barrel, up 3 cents from the settlement price on June 18, and up $1.08 from the previous trading day's closing price.
In July, the main Nymex crude oil contract from New York's Commodity Exchange (Nymex) was priced at $81.51 per barrel, down 6 cents from the settlement price on June 18, and up $1.24 from the previous trading day's closing price.
The National Hurricane Center in the United States has issued tropical storm warnings for southern Texas and northeastern Mexico, affecting areas from Port O'Connor to the mouth of the Rio Grande River on the Texas coast and northeastern Mexico coast. The storm is expected to bring heavy rain and flood risk and may disrupt ship-to-ship crude oil transfer operations near the Texas coast from the evening of June 17th. In the Gulf of Mexico, transfer operations typically take place in designated lighter areas near Corpus Christi, Galveston, and Beaumont-Port Arthur, transferring crude oil from Aframax or Suezmax tankers to Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC).
After five weeks of futures premiums, the North Sea crude oil market has returned to spot premiums due to the rebound of light crude oil price differentials. Traders said that the spot premium in the derivative market reflects a higher price differential on the spot oil price to the North Sea benchmark price. Recently, due to strong buying interest from trading companies Trafigura and Gunvor, the price differentials of benchmark crude oil grades have sharply rebounded, and sellers have provided little or none. The recent futures premium structure in the North Sea market has promoted the accumulation of floating crude oil storage in Europe. According to data analysis company Vortexa, at least three tankers carrying Forties cargo were still floating in UK waters after loading in May without sending destination signals. The return of spot premiums could help clear this supply.
A fire broke out at an oil tank site in the southern Russian Sea of Azov after a drone attack, according to the state news agency RIA. The oil tank site was hit by four drones, but there was no danger of the fire spreading. The Sea of Azov is the location of an oil terminal that loads products supplied by rail for export. The terminal has only handled diesel this year, but has previously loaded fuel oil and naphtha. This attack is the latest in a series of attacks on energy infrastructure events this year.
Preliminary plans for crude oil exports from Angola in August are set at 1.26 million barrels per day, up 20% from the previous month and the highest since September 2020. Two shipments in July were delayed, pushing the planned export volume for August to 41 batches, while the July export plan fell to 1.05 million barrels per day.
(The above content is from Argus, an independent international energy and commodity price assessment agency)