The Apr’25 Brent futures contract has seen weakness this morning, trading from $76.25/bbl at 0700 GMT down to $75.80/bbl at 1045 GMT (time of writing). Crude oil prices have continued to see bearish sentiment following the 4.63mb build in US crude inventories announced in 20 Feb’s EIA data. In the news today, Suriname’s state oil company Staatsolie is seeking $1.5 billion in funding to participate in the country’s Gran Morgu energy project, the head of Staatsolie told Reuters. The project, led by TotalEnergies, is Suriname’s first major offshore project and is expected to cost $12.2 billon, with the potential to see its first oil in 2028. In other news, Japan’s biggest refiner, Eneos Corp, said it had shut down a 141kb/d crude distillation unit at its Sakai refinery on 17 February after a fire on that day. A company spokesperson declined to comment or say when it might restart, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, Nigeria’s NNPC said that a fire on a crude storage barge at its Cawthorne Channel facility in the coastal Rivers state has been contained and did not affect operations. Finally, Colmbia’s Ecopetrol booked its biggest increase in proven oil and gas reserves in three years in 2024, rising to 1.89 billion barrels of oil equivalent, as per Reuters. Almost 90% of the reserves are in Colombian fields while 11% are in the company’s operations in the US, Ecopetrol’s CEO stated. At the time of writing, the Apr/May’25 and Apr/Oct’25 Brent futures spreads currently stand at $0.40/bbl and $2.51/bbl.
