Spot premiums for Middle East crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban crude eased on Monday as buying interest from Asian refiners slowed after a flurry of trade activities last week.
Thai refiner IRPC has bought one September-loading cargo of Das crude each from Glencore and Vitol at premiums of 90 cents to $1 a barrel to Dubai quotes, traders said, up from premiums of 80-90 cents a barrel in trades seen last week.
The refiner has also bought 1-2 cargoes of Murban crude at $1.60-$1.70 a barrel above Dubai quotes, they added.
Separately, Dubai has set its official differential to Oman futures 1OQc1 for October at a premium of $0.10 per barrel, the Dubai Department of Petroleum Affairs said on Monday.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps fell 13 cents to $1.69 a barrel.
PetroChina will receive one September-loading Upper Zakum crude cargo from Hengli and an Oman cargo from PTT following the deals.
REFINERY
A fire caused by a Ukrainian drone strike on Russia’s Black Sea Tuapse oil refinery has been put out, officials said on Monday.
Nigeria’s Dangote refinery is in talks with Libya to secure crude for the 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) plant and will also seek Angolan oil, a senior executive said, as it seeks to overcome problems with domestic supplies.
Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL.NS, India’s third-biggest refiner, expects Middle Eastern producers to cut the official selling prices (OSPs) of their crude in coming months to reflect lower margins on fuel sales, its head of finance said on Saturday.
NEWS
A tanker that was involved in a collision near Singapore last week entered the area of Malaysia’s Bertam floating oil terminal on Monday morning after it was intercepted by local authorities on Sunday, shipping data from LSEG and Kpler showed.
Australia’s Woodside Energy WDS.AX said on Monday it had agreed to buy U.S. liquefied natural gas developer Tellurian TELL.A, including its U.S. Gulf Coast Driftwood LNG export project, for $1.2 billion including debt.
China’s total fuel oil imports slipped 11% in the first half of 2024, data showed on Saturday, amid a backdrop of weak refining margins and poor fuel demand.
Shares of Reliance Industries RELI.NS fell as much as 3% after the conglomerate reported first-quarter profit below analysts’ estimates on Friday, hurt by weak performance in its energy and retail segments.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Eileen Soreng)