Middle East crude benchmark spot premiums for Oman, Dubai and Murban were steady on Monday after Saudi Arabia’s decision to hike August prices for Asia to a four-month high.

On Sunday, state energy firm Saudi Aramco 2223 raised the official selling price for its flagship Arab light crude to Asia loading in August to $2.20 a barrel above the Oman/Dubai average, the highest in four months and up $1 from July. The price hike exceeded expectations of a rise of 50-80 cents a barrel in a Reuters survey early last week.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps rose 4 cents to $3.16 a barrel.

NEWS

OPEC+ oil producers are set to approve another big output boost for September as they complete the unwinding of voluntary output cuts by eight members and allow the United Arab Emirates to pump more to meet a larger quota, five sources said.

Discounts for Russia’s flagship Urals crude oil for delivery to Indian ports in August shrank to their narrowest levels since 2022 amid high demand and shrinking spot supply, three traders in the grade’s market said on Friday.

A new oil pipeline to the British Columbia coast is highly likely to be included on a list of projects deemed to be of national importance to the Canadian government, Prime Minister Mark Carney told the Calgary Herald newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.

Shell SHEL expects quarterly earnings to be hit by weaker trading in its integrated gas division and losses at its chemicals and products operations, it said on Monday ahead of second-quarter results due on July 31.
Source: Reuters