Middle Eastern crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban slid on Monday, as sentiment was dented by China’s lower-than-expected economic growth target, which could threaten fuel demand.

The spread between Brent- and Dubai-linked grade also narrowed, to $3.48 a barrel from $3.58 in the previous session, making the arbitrage cargoes from the Atlantic Basin more attractive to Asian refiners and adding pressures on the Middle Eastern crude.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has informed at least three buyers in Asia that it will supply full contractual volumes of crude in April, trade sources said.

Unipec, a trading arm of Asia’s top oil refiner Sinopec, is heard having bought 2 million barrels of Oman crude and 2 million barrels of Upper Zakum crude, both for May-loading.

SAUDI OSP

Top crude exporter Saudi Arabia raised prices for the flagship Arab light crude it sells to Asia for a second month in April, to $2.50 a barrel above the Oman/Dubai average, Aramco 2222 said on Sunday night.

The price hike — 50 cents a barrel higher than the March official selling prices — was in line with a Reuters survey, as signs of an economic rebound in China raised expectation for a pickup in fuel demand from the world’s top oil importer.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps dipped 31 cents to $1.98 a barrel.

NEWS

Urals, KEBCO and Siberian Light oil loadings from Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiisk in March were set at 2.18 million tonnes, below 2.38 million tonnes in the February plan.

Guyana’s upcoming auction of offshore oil exploration blocks has lured at least 10 companies including Shell, Petrobras and Chevron, to consider the decade’s hottest oil region, people close to the matter said.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Friday that crude oil blending and under-reported oil output were key reasons for recently high adjustment figures in the weekly oil inventory data.
Source: Reuters