BREAKING: Glencore pleads guilty to several counts of bribery and market manipulation, agreeing to pay about $1.5 billion in fines and forfeitures to conclude corruption investigations in the US, UK and Brazil#OOTT  #OATT  #METL 

Although flat Brent futures haven't responded very strongly yet, time-spreads are quickly widening, with backwardation reaching unusual levels. The Brent 1-year time-spread has surged to almost $20 a barrel backwardation. Excluding the March spike, that would be a record | 3/4

⚡️⚡️⚡️UK energy regulator Ofgem pre-announces a 42% increase in gas and electricity utility bills from October in Britain (And you can read also my yesterday's @opinion  column here, flagging the electricity shock coming to Europe: )

(To put the $1.5 billion into context, that's what Glencore's commodity traders are likely to make in just 6 months this year...)

Further on Glencore. *So far*, not a single senior executive faces jail time. Other than Enron’s executives, the US last jailed a top oil trader in 2007-08 when it sent to prison David Chalmers and Oscar Wyatt, the CEOs of Bayoil and Coastal after the Iraq's Oil-for-Food scandal

OIL MARKET: As refiners emerge from seasonal maintenance and react to sky-high crack margins, the strength in products is shifting into crude. Despite tepid Chinese demand, the physical crude market is tightening, with some differentials surging to multi-year highs | #OOTT  1/4

According to the IEA, global refinery throughput will rise more than 4m b/d from spring to summer, surging from a low point of 78m b/d in April to an average of 82m b/d between July and September. Global refining throughput will, however, remain below pre-covid levels | 4/4