Middle East crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban extended losses on Tuesday as Saudi Arabia unexpectedly kept March oil prices low to ensure its market share, implying sufficient oil supply in the market and putting pressures on other oil producers.
Saudi Aramco set the official selling price (OSP) for March-loading Arab Light to Asia at $1.50 a barrel over the Oman/Dubai average, same level as the previous month.
The March price was lower than the market expectations that forecasted Saudi to raise the OSP by about 55 cents.
More than 100 Dubai partials emerged at S&P Global Platts’ Market-on-Close platform on Tuesday, leading to five convergences, mirroring robust trading activities and strong demand for hedge this month.
OSP
The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has set the March official selling price (OSP) of its benchmark Murban crude at $79.06 per barrel, it said on Tuesday, up from a February OSP of $77.69.
Its Umm Lulu crude premium is set at $0.25 a barrel over Murban price in March, while discounts for Das and Upper Zakum are set at $0.75 a barrel and $0.15 a barrel, respectively, against Murban price.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps fell 13 cents to $0.75 per barrel.
Unipec will deliver one April-loading Oman crude to Trafigura and one Murban crude each to Mitsui and PetroChina following the trades.
Vitol will deliver one April Oman crude cargo to Mitsui, while Total will also deliver one Oman cargo to PetroChina.
ASIAN REFINERIES
India’s Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL.NS plans to shut a 4.5 million metric ton-per-year (90,000 barrels per day) crude unit and some secondary units for 30 days at its Kochi refinery during September-October, a company executive said on Tuesday.
NEWS
Russia-backed Indian refiner Nayara Energy has imported a crude cargo of Sokol grade that will reach its oil facility at the Western coast this week, a company source said on Tuesday.
Production of crude oil in Kazakhstan edged up 0.5% in January from December to 6.7 million metric tons (1.578 million barrels per day), according to sources familiar with official data, and Reuters calculations, surpassing the country’s OPEC+ quota.
Turkey and Brazil last year became the biggest importers of Russian seaborne diesel and gasoil after European Union sanctions barring the import of Russian refined products took effect, data from market sources and LSEG showed.
As many as 35 oil tankers that usually carry crude or fuel oil could switch to carrying cleaner products like diesel and jet fuel in the next two months as shipowners chase higher profitability, oil analytics firm Kpler said in a LinkedIn post.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Muyu Xu; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)