Middle East crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban advanced on Tuesday on bets of a rise in demand for sour crude after prices of Russian crude were hiked amid a drop in supply.

Indian imports of Russian crude are likely to decline on narrowing discounts and payment problems, forcing refiners to boost supplies from other sources, a senior government official told reporters on Monday.

The south Asian country has been scooping up Russian Urals crude since the Ukraine crisis and cutting intakes from Middle Eastern countries, such as Iraq.

Russian crude in China, mostly light sweet ESPO, is also traded at higher prices for August and early September-arrival cargoes, traders said.

The price hikes come as Russia pledged to reduce its oil exports by 2.1 million metric tons in the third quarter in line with planned voluntary export cuts of 500,000 barrels per day in August, its energy ministry said on Monday.

For tenders, China’s Rongsheng bought 4 million barrels of Upper Zakum crude for October-delivery via a tender closed on Monday.

Taiwan’s CPC issued a tender seeking for September-loading sour crude. The tender is due to remainvalid until Wednesday.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps rose 13 cents to $1.70 a barrel.

NEWS

China’s diesel exports fell to the lowest level in more than a year in June as refiners curbed production in favour of more lucrative gasoline and aviation fuels.
The lifting of oil and gas in Indonesia between January and June fell below target due to unplanned shutdowns and delays in starting projects, upstream regulator SKK Migas said on Tuesday.

U.S. shale oil and natural gas production will fall in August for the first time since December, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its monthly Drilling Productivity Report on Monday.

Australia’s Woodside Energy Group Ltd WDS.AX said on Tuesday it expected the first barrel of oil from the Senegal Sangomar project in Africa to flow through by mid-2024, compared with the initial target of late 2023.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Muyu Xu; Editing by Sohini Goswami)