Middle East crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban climbed on Thursday, supported by firm demand from Asian refiners.
More details emerged for tenders issued by Chinese refiner Rongsheng Petrochemical and QatarEnergy.
CNOOC, BP, Totsa – the trading arm of TotalEnergies – and PetroChina sold the Canadian Access Western Blend (AWB) crude cargoes to Rongsheng at discounts of about $6 a barrel to ICE Brent, stable from the previous month, traders said.
The deal marked CNOOC’s first sale of TMX crude in Asia. The Chinese state energy major has oil sands and shale gas assets in Canada.
For QatarEnergy’s tenders, Thailand’s PTT was awarded the September-loading Qatar Marine and Land crude cargoes at premiums of about 80 cents and 70 cents a barrel, respectively, to Dubai quotes, traders said, higher levels than last month
Separately, Taiwan’s Formosa Petrochemical has bought Oman crude via a tender, a trader said, although details have yet to emerge.
RUSSIAN CRUDE
India increased its purchases of Russia’s Far East ESPO Blend oil for June and July arrival as China, a key buyer of the grade, bought less, two sources involved in the Russian oil trade said and LSEG data showed.
India’s imports of Russian ESPO Blend rose to some 500,000 metric tons (123,000 barrels per day) in June and are expected to surpass 700,000 tons this month, according to the sources and the data. This is a significant rise from the 100,000-200,000 tons of the grade India has been purchasing monthly since September 2023, LSEG data shows.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps rose 8 cents to $1.82 a barrel.
NEWS
China’s diesel exports in June rose almost three-fold compared to a year earlier, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Thursday, as domestic demand remained in the doldrums.
U.S. crude oil stockpiles last week fell more than expected as strong refining activity continued despite Hurricane Beryl, while gasoline and distillate inventories rose, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.
U.S. imports of crude oil from Canada rose last week to its highest on record, data from the Energy Information Administration showed on Wednesday, buoyed by the startup of the newly expanded Trans Mountain (TMX) pipeline.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)