Spot premiums for Middle East crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban crept higher for a second session on Tuesday as buying interest from Japanese refiners emerged.

Idemitsu has bought Murban crude at about $2 a barrel above Dubai quotes, a trader said.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps rose 12 cents to $2.16 a barrel.

ExxonMobil will deliver a November-loading Upper Zakum crude cargo to Mitsui following the deals.

REFINERY

Russia’s primary oil refining capacity is expected to rise in the second half of September as refineries are wrapping up their maintenance, according to Reuters calculations based on data from industry sources.

NEWS

Investors were more bearish than ever on crude oil last week, deepening a months-long selloff that pressured prices to multi-year lows amid growing concerns of weak demand in top consuming nations.

South Sudan and Sudan have made progress towards restarting the pumping of South Sudan’s crude oil through a pipeline running to a port in its neighbour, South Sudan’s finance minister and the president’s office said.

Libyan crude exports reached about 550,000 barrels per day last week, a three-fold increase on the previous week, according to data from analytics firm Kpler and a shipping agent.

U.S. crude oil stockpiles were expected to have fallen last week, while gasoline inventories likely rose, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday.

Petrobras’ PETR4.SA new multi-year strategic plan will have greater focus on upstream operations than the previous one, Chief Financial Officer Fernando Melgarejo said on Monday, as the Brazilian state-run firm looks to rebuild oil and gas reserves.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)