Middle East crude benchmarks Dubai, Murban and Oman finished lower on Friday, with the Dubai grade falling more than $1 to $79.24 a barrel.

Chinese mega refiner Rongsheng Petrochemical has bought four Canadian TMX crude cargoes for November delivery, steady from the previous month’s volumes, traders said. The four cargoes of Access Western Blend (AWB) to be exported from Canada’s Trans Mountain pipeline were priced at discounts wider than $6 a barrel to ICE Brent on a delivered basis, they added.

RUSSIAN OIL

China’s newest mega refiner Shandong Yulong Petrochemical has stepped up purchases of Russian crude oil cargoes for September arrival ahead of a planned test of its new plant, two trading sources said.

The company has bought at least three shipments of Russia’s ESPO blend and one cargo of Sokol crude since last week, all for September delivery, several trading sources said.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps fell 8 cents to 91 cents a barrel.

NEWS

– A meeting of OPEC+ ministers has kept oil output policy unchanged, including a plan to start unwinding one layer of output cuts from October, and repeated that the increase could be paused or reversed if needed.

– Japan’s biggest refiner, Eneos Corp, conducted an unplanned shutdown of the 145,000 barrel per day crude distillation unit at its Sendai refinery in northern Japan on Aug. 1, a company spokesperson said on Friday.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mohi Narayan and Florence Tan, Editing by David Goodman)