Middle East crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban drifted lower on Wednesday as the market expected top oil exporter Saudi Arabia to trim its official selling prices (OSPs) in February, which would set guidance to other regional oil prices.

Saudi Arabiamay slash price premiums on all crude grades it sells to Asia to one-year-lows despite the escalation of tensions in the Red Sea, as concerns intensify that supply may outpace demand.

It could cut the OSP for its flagship Arab Light crude over Oman/Dubai crude quotes by about $1.70 a barrel from the prior month, according to five refining sources surveyed by Reuters.

State oil giant Saudi Aramco typically reveals OSPs around the fifth of each month.

Meanwhile, Russia’s ESPO crude was traded at a discount of about 30 cents against ICE Brent on delivery basis in China for February-arrival cargoes, trading sources said. Last month, prices for January-arrival ESPO were on par with ICE Brent.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps fell 24 cents to $0.32 per barrel.

NEWS

Venezuela has agreed to give some oil to India’s ONGC Videsh to help it recoup its pending $600 million dividend for a stake in a project in the South American nation, India’s oil secretary said on Wednesday.

India’s oil imports from Russia fell due to unattractive pricing and not because of payment problems, oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Wednesday.

Iraq’s oil exports stood at 108.056 million barrels in December with a price of $76.96 a barrel, while exports averaged 3.5 million barrels per day, the oil ministry said in a statement on Wednesday
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Muyu Xu; Editing by Varun H K)