Spot premiums for Middle East crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban inched lower on Tuesday.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps fell 3 cents to $1.97 a barrel.

NEWS

China’s daily crude oil imports rose last month to their highest in a year, customs data and Reuters records showed on Tuesday, as shipments staged a tentative recovery on lower crude oil prices and improving refining margins.

Daily crude oil imports stood at 11.56 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, the highest since August a year earlier, according to General Administration of Customs data, which can sometimes be revised later.

Oil products demand in China, long the driver of global crude consumption, peaked in 2023 and is forecast to decrease by 1.1% annually between 2023 and 2025, with the drop accelerating in subsequent years, a China oil researcher said on Tuesday.

U.S. Gulf of Mexico offshore oil and gas producers on Monday were evacuating staff and curbing drilling as Tropical Storm Francine churned through the energy region on a path to bring high winds and drenching rains to the U.S. mid-South.

Libya’s NOC late last week declared force majeure on several crude cargoes loading from the Es Sider port, with oil production curtailed by a political standoff over the central bank and oil revenue, four trading sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Iraq faces a budget crunch in 2025 due to the slump in the price of oil, the overwhelming source of government revenue, a top economic adviser to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)