Price supportive developments were in abundance of supply, and they were impossible to resist. The only surprise, if there was any, was that oil prices rallied $1/bbl and not more. To begin on the old Continent business growth in the euro zone slowed in June significantly – maybe one more ECB rate cut is in order this year.
At a time when there is expectation of a tightening supply situation within the oil market, then the reaction to Hurricane Beryl is completely understandable. After all, this is sort of unknown territory, having a storm of such magnitude so early in the summer and being a prelude to the expected record number of storms predicted in the forthcoming hurricane season.
The first day of the latter part of 2024 arrived with a bang. Oil prices rallied hard, front-month Brent was quick to fill the expiry gap left on the continuation chart with backwardation widening both on the European crude marker and its trans-Atlantic peer. More importantly, products performed much better than crude oil, thus crack spread values have improved convincingly.
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