Benchmark Dubai flipped back to a thin premium on Wednesday after slumping into discounts for the last five sessions, while the discount for Oman also narrowed.

The recent slump in Middle East crude differentials into wide discounts has drawn demand from refiners in Thailand, India and China.

Thai Oil bought a February-loading Murban crude cargo from Vitol at a premium above 40 cents a barrel to Dubai quotes, traders said.

PTT may have bought Das crude for IRPC via a tender, while China’s Rongsheng Petrochemical and Indian Oil Corp will close tenders on Wednesday for February-loading crude.

REGIONAL CRUDE

PV Oil has likely sold February-loading Chim Sao to PTT at a premium of about $7 a barrel to dated Brent, down from about $8 in the previous month.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai’s differential to swaps flipped from a discount to a premium of 3 cents a barrel on Wednesday.

Reliance will be delivering one February-loading Upper Zakum cargo to Glencore.

NEWS

Oil futures extended gains on Wednesday as investors kept an eye on the situation in the Red Sea after recent attacks by Iran-aligned Yemeni Houthi militants.

China’s surging oil production growth in recent years, the result of a concerted investment push, is expected to ease in 2024 as falling output from mature fields requires state oil companies to tap more challenging shale and ultra-deep reserves.

Israeli forces pounded the shattered Gaza Strip on Tuesday while Yemen’s Houthis vowed to defy a U.S.-led naval mission and keep targeting Red Sea shipping in support of the Palestinian enclave’s ruling Hamas movement.

Finnish oil refiner and biofuels producer Neste expects to invest some 2.5 billion euros ($2.74 billion) to convert its Porvoo crude oil refinery to a biofuels production facility, the company said on Wednesday.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Florence Tan and Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Shweta Agarwal)