Middle East crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban recorded a loss for this month, after surging to multi-year highs in January.

Following the downward movement, market participants anticipated a small cut in Saudi Arabia’s crude prices for Asian buyers in April.

The April official selling price (OSP) for flagship Arab Light crude may decline by 20 cents to 65 cents a barrel from March, four Asian refining sources said in a Reuters survey.

That suggests the April Arab Light price could come at a premium of $3.25-3.70 a barrel to the average of the benchmark Oman and Dubai prices, down from the $3.90 for March, the highest in more than a year.

The price announcement is expected next week.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps rose 76 cents to $4.13 a barrel. On a monthly basis, it dipped 7 cents.

NEWS

China’s imports of Russian Far East crude and Iranian oil are set to rebound in March as non-sanctioned tankers, drawn by lucrative payoffs, joined the trade replacing vessels under U.S. embargo, trade sources and analysts said.

The cancellation of a license for Chevron CVX to operate in Venezuela could lead to the negotiation of a fresh agreement between the U.S. producer and state company PDVSA to export crude to destinations other than the United States, sources close to the talks said.

Baghdad will announce in the coming hours the resumption of oil exports from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline, according to an Iraqi oil ministry statement.
Source: Reuters