The September Brent futures contract has seen a downward trend all afternoon, softening from nearly $85/bbl at 11:35 BST to below $84/bbl at 14:40 BST.
Prices then climbed to $84.65/bbl at 15:35 BST but saw choppier movement following a bearish EIA stats announcement at 15:30 BST, ultimately seeing the contract fall to $84.45/bbl at 17:25 BST (time of writing). EIA data for the week ending June 21 showcased a build of 3.591mb in US crude oil inventories against median estimates of a 2.8mb draw, although Cushing stocks recorded a muted 226kb draw. In addition, US gasoline stocks saw a 2.654mb build against a forecast 1.437mb draw, while American middle distillates stocks recorded a 377kb draw against expectations of a more sizeable 1.050mb draw. Also concerning is the decline in refinery utilisation by 1.3ppt at a time when refiners would typically be increasing utilisation to meet the seasonally higher summertime demand. Moreover, while the EIA announced a 433kb/d decline in American crude imports, data from Kpler showcased that imports in May rose to 3.1mb/d, the highest since July 2022. On the macroeconomic side of things, sales of new single-family homes in the US sank to a six-month low of 619,000 units in May (prev: 698,000). Finally, at the time of writing, the Sep/Oct and Sep/Mar’25 Brent futures spreads stand at $0.59/bbl and $2.98/bbl, respectively.
