Middle East crude benchmarks were mixed on Tuesday, with Dubai rising while Oman and Murban drifted lower.

Spot premiums for Mideast crude are typically volatile towards the end-of-month periods as trades wind down.

While the market awaited changes on production policy from an OPEC+ meeting on Feb. 1, Saudi Aramco 2222.SE on Tuesday said it was asked to cut its planned maximum sustainable oil production capacity to 12 million barrels a day (bpd) from 13 million bpd.

“The message from this is that Saudi Arabia is aiming for price over volume also in the coming 5 years,” said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief analyst at SEB Research in a note.

Saudi Arabia had in late November vowed to extend a voluntary output cut by 1 million bpd to around 9 million bpd until the end of March.

Meanwhile, China’s independent refiners are holding off from buying Iranian crude oil for February as a stand-off over pricing and terms enters a second month, trading sources said.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps rose 23 cents to $1.38 per barrel.

NEWS

Inpex Corp 1605.T, Japan’s top oil and gas explorer, is selling its minority stake in a Russian oil project in Siberia to Japanese trading house Itochu Corp 8001.T, two people familiar with the deal told Reuters.

India’s exports of low-sulphur diesel to Europe are poised to hit a fresh two-year low in January, after an unprecedented high last month, as Red Sea security risks drive up freight costs, trade sources and analysts say.

Canada’s Trans Mountain TMC.UL said on Monday that it had run into technical issues and faces new delays as it tries to complete the final part of expanding its oil export pipeline.

Shanghai, China’s financial hub, wants to increase the number of yuan-denominated deals on its energy exchange, the municipal government said, as it seeks to promote the use of the Chinese currency overseas and weaken the U.S. dollar’s dominance.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Muyu Xu; Editing by Varun H K)