Middle East crude benchmarks Dubai and Murban inched down on Thursday but continued hovering near their six-week highs amid robust spot trades.

Light sour Murban cargoes were heard selling at a premium of about $1.1 a barrel over the Dubai quotes in the spot market, while medium sour Upper Zakum cargoes changed hand at about $0.9 a barrel over the Dubai quotes, trading sources said.

Both grades are traded about 20 cents higher from the levels last week.

Meanwhile, Chinese and other Asian refiners only asked for similar volumes of Saudi crude oil for February compared with January, people with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday, after the world’s top oil exporter cut its prices by the most in 13 months.

Chinese refiners nominated about 38.5 million barrels (1.33 million bpd) of Saudi crude for February-loading, similar to the about 40 million barrels for January on a daily basis, they said.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps fell 8 cents to $1.13 per barrel.

NEWS

An oil tanker involved in a dispute between the U.S. and Iran was boarded by armed individuals east of Oman and appeared to be changing course towards Iranian waters, according to a British maritime security firm and the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) authority.

Proceeds from oil and gas sales for Russia’s federal budget declined by about 24% to 8.822 trillion roubles ($99.4 billion) last year, finance ministry data showed on Thursday, hit by weaker oil prices.

U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose unexpectedly last week and fuel inventories grew by more than expected, with distillates building to their highest level in over two years, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Muyu Xu; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)