Middle East crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban snapped their four-day winning streak on Thursday, with spot premiums for all three shrinking below $1 per barrel to Dubai quotes.

Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil imports rose last week to their highest since 2018, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday, as volumes from Mexico rebounded and the expanded Trans Mountain pipeline boosted shipments from Canada.

Refinery crude runs fell by 97,000 barrels last week, EIA said. Refinery utilization rates fell by 0.4 percentage points.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps slipped by 41 cents to 59 cents a barrel.

NEWS

– The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday and pushed out the start of rate cuts to perhaps as late as December as policymakers sketched out their view of an economy that remains virtually unchanged across its major dimensions for years to come.

– The largest U.S. oil trade group, which includes Exxon Mobil and Chevron, will file a federal lawsuit on Thursday, seeking to block the Biden administration’s efforts to reduce planet-warming emissions from cars and light trucks and encourage electric vehicle manufacturing, the group said.

– South Korean refiner Hyundai Oilbank has reduced production at the larger of its two crude distillation units (CDUs) in Seosan because of production woes at a gasoline-making unit, two industry sources with knowledge of the matter said.

– Russian naphtha shipments to South Korea have slowed amid a probe by the country into whether fuel from Russia has been mislabelled as supply from places where cargoes have been transshipped, according to trade sources and shipping data.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mohi Narayan; Editing by Sonia Cheema)