Our free weekly round-up of the latest news in the oil market is below, available to download in PDF format.

• Brent fell to $73/bbl after briefly reaching $77/bbl this week due to China’s large stockpile with lowered refinery runs and record Iranian crude exports. However, strong US demand was evident with draws in crude, motor gasoline, and jet fuel inventories.
• China’s crude production rose to 4.27 mb/d (+2.9% y-o-y) in May. Refinery run decreased by 277,000 b/d m-o-m, with record imports, resulting in a stockpile of 55 mb or 1.78 mb/d. China’s recent 10 basis point interest rate cut is viewed as insufficient to support economic recovery.
• Iranian crude exports have reached a record not seen since the US sanctions imposed in 2018. Kpler reports that Iran exported 1.5 mb/d of crude in May.
• Woodside has reached FID for the ultra-deepwater Trion field development in Mexico with an estimated capex of $7.2 billion.
• OMV Petrom has made an FID and given the green light to develop the Black Sea Neptun field which holds 1.5-3.5 Tcf of recoverable gas reserves.
• Shell will allocate $13 billion capex annually to prioritize oil and gas projects, aiming to maintain a production level of 2.5 million b/d or higher until 2030. Shell and Equinor are planning an FID for the FPU Sparta development project later this year.
• Active M&A in the European and US O&G industry including Eni acquiring Neptune Energy for $4.9 billion, Lundin acquiring Concedo to re-enter the Norwegian oil and gas sector and Civitas Resources making its entry into the Permian Basin by acquiring operations for $4.7 billion.
• Dolphin Drilling is also acquiring two UK semisubmersible rigs Paul B Loyd Jr and Transocean Leader from Transocean for $64.5 million.