During the early Asian trading session, the Brent crude oil futures prices fell slightly, after rising over 1 dollar per barrel on the previous trading day's settlement price.

As of 12:00 Beijing time, the price of the Brent crude oil November contract is reported at 74.96 US dollars per barrel, down 21 cents from the settlement price on September 24th. The settlement price on September 24th increased by 1.27 US dollars from the previous trading day.

The New York Mercantile Exchange crude oil November contract price is reported at 71.30 US dollars per barrel, down 26 cents from the settlement price on September 24th, while the settlement price on September 24th increased by 1.19 US dollars from the previous trading day.

The Chinese government has announced a series of monetary policy measures aimed at stimulating the domestic real estate market and the overall economy. The People's Bank of China has lowered the reserve requirement ratio for commercial banks, and reduced short-term loan and mortgage rates. China is the world's largest crude oil importer, with a daily import volume reaching 11.3 million barrels in 2023.

Tropical Storm Helen is expected to strengthen into a hurricane on Wednesday and potentially make landfall in Florida, USA on Thursday, causing a temporary halt to about 16% of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico. According to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) data as of 12:30 PM Eastern Time on September 24th, approximately 0.284 million barrels per day of U.S. offshore oil production were affected, along with about 20.8 billion cubic feet per day of gas production, equivalent to 11% of the region's output, being shut-in. Currently, personnel from four offshore production platforms have been evacuated.

OPEC has once again raised its long-term global oil demand growth forecast, maintaining that oil and gas will remain important components of the energy market in the foreseeable future. OPEC expects global oil demand to continue to grow for at least the next 25 years, reaching a daily 0.12 billion barrels by 2050, an increase from the daily 0.1022 billion barrels in 2023, and potentially even higher. This marks the first forecast by the World Oil Outlook to include projections up to 2050.

Hungarian oil company MOL has reached a new agreement on the import of Russian crude oil via the Friendship pipeline. Previously, Ukraine imposed sanctions on the Russian oil company Lukoil PJSC by the end of June, prohibiting the transportation of its crude oil through Ukraine. The Friendship pipeline system divides into two branches in Belarus, with the southern line passing through Ukraine to Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. While the ban did not disrupt the flow of crude oil through the Friendship pipeline, it raised concerns about supply security, prompting MOL to seek a long-term solution.

Russia has canceled the plan to expand the Kuyumba-Taishet (K-T) crude oil pipeline in Eastern Siberia. The pipeline was originally intended to increase its capacity to 0.3 million barrels per day by constructing two new pumping stations, but according to the latest government decree, the project has been removed from the federal pipeline transportation plan.

The Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) is expected to see a 29% decrease in crude oil exports in November compared to October, to a daily average of 185,000 barrels, the lowest level since January this year. Loading schedules show that there will be six shipments in November, compared to eight in October, with a daily export volume of 238,000 barrels. The decrease is mainly due to a reduction in the loading volume of the country's highest rank Geno crude oil, which is expected to drop to 153,000 barrels per day in November, the lowest point in 10 months.

(The above content is from Argus, an independent international energy and commodity price assessment agency)