Spot premiums for Middle East crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban eased slightly on Wednesday, but remained over $2 a barrel to Dubai quotes.

The premiums are over $1 a barrel higher than last month’s average, Reuters data showed.

SAUDI OSP

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia is expected to cut prices for most of the crude grades it sells to Asia in October after Middle East benchmark Dubai slumped last month.

The October official selling price (OSP) for flagship Arab Light crude is expected to fall between 50 cents and 70 cents a barrel, three of five refining sources said in a Reuters survey, to track a similar trend for Dubai price spreads last month.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps was at $2.02 a barrel, down from $2.06 on Tuesday and an average of 90 cents a barrel last month.

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OPEC+ is discussing a delay in a planned output increase next month as oil prices hit their lowest in nine months, three sources from the producer group told Reuters.

U.S. crude oil and gasoline stockpiles were expected to have fallen last week, while distillate inventories likely rose, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.

Russia’s federal antimonopoly service sees no grounds for reinstating a ban on diesel fuel exports, its deputy head Vitaly Korolev said on Wednesday.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Shreya Biswas)