Hurricane Beryl has weakened to a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 110 miles per hour. The storm is expected to reach the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico on July 5th, bringing heavy rain, hurricane force winds, and storm surges.
During early Asian trading, Brent crude oil futures prices fell due to the reduction of threats to crude oil production along the US Gulf Coast.
As of 12:30 Beijing time, the August Brent crude oil futures price was $86.84 per barrel, down 46 cents from the settlement price on July 4, and rose $1.10 when the contract closed that day.
The August crude oil futures price on the New York Mercantile Exchange was $83.70 per barrel, down 18 cents from the settlement price on July 4, and increased $1.07 when the contract closed that day.
The predicted path of Hurricane Beryl has shifted north, and it may reach the central coast of Texas early next week but appears to pose limited threat to US Gulf Coast oil and gas production. Earlier this week, oil and gas operators in the US Gulf of Mexico evacuated non-essential personnel from some offshore facilities. However, as of July 4, these concerns seemed to have eased, with BP stating that the storm "no longer poses a significant threat to our Gulf of Mexico assets."
According to the announcement from the National Hurricane Center (NHC), Beryl has weakened to a Category 2 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 110 miles per hour. The storm is expected to reach Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on July 5, bringing heavy rain, hurricane-force winds and storm surge.
Due to increased attacks by the Houthi armed group on vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, the volume of crude oil and petroleum products flowing through the Suez Canal both ways decreased by 36% in June month-on-month and 71% year-on-year.
The Houthis have also tried new tactics to target ships, such as using unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) that sank a bulk carrier in June. The number of confirmed incidents increased last month, but the number of unverified claims also rose, suggesting that the Houthis may be ramping up their propaganda efforts.
African crude loading programs indicate a decrease in exports in August. Chad's Doba crude oil exports will decrease from 0.153 million barrels per day to 0.123 million barrels per day in August. Crude oil exports from the Republic of Ghana will also decrease from 0.155 million barrels per day to 0.123 million barrels per day in August.
(The above content is from Argus, an independent international energy and commodity price assessment agency)