Middle East crude benchmarks slid on Monday as the market awaited for top oil exporter Saudi Arabia to unveil its allocation plan for August-loading cargoes.
The market anticipated that some buyers, especially Chinese refiners, may request for less Saudi supply due to the elevated prices and may increase intakes from Latin American and West African regions, taking advantage of the narrowed spread of Brent- and Dubai-pegged oil, known as Brent/Dubai EFS.
The Brent/Dubai EFS averaged at $0.93 a barrel by far this month, compared with about $1.1 a barrel in June which was the lowest in two-and-a-half years.
A narrowing spread typically encourages Asian buyers to bring more cargoes from the Atlantic Basin, where oil is linked to Brent benchmark.
OSP
Qatar set the August official selling price (OSP) for Marine crude at $0.10 a barrel over the Oman/Dubai average, steady from the July level.
For Land crude, the OSP was set at $0.20 a barrel to the Oman/Dubai average, up from a discount of $0.10 a barrel for July.
ASIA PACIFIC CRUDE
Only one cargo of Australia’s North West Shelf (NWS) condensate is scheduled to load in September, down from three cargoes in the previous month, according to trading sources on Monday.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps fell 52 cents to $1.32 a barrel.
NEWS
Russia will put on hold more 38% of its primary oil refining capacity in July than originally expected, complicating the task of promised oil exports cuts, according to data from industry sources and Reuters calculations.
India’s fuel demand eased 3.7% in June month-on-month, government data showed on Friday, as monsoon rains restricted mobility in the world’s third-biggest oil consumer.
Iraq and French oil major TotalEnergies TTEF.PA on Monday signed a long-delayed $27 billion energy deal that aims increase oil production and boost the country’s capacity to produce energy with four oil, gas and renewables projects.
Venezuela’s opposition is crafting a proposal for the country to redirect about 200,000 barrels per day of its oil exports to a trustee to pay creditors with claims on the nation’s foreign assets.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Muyu Xu; Editing by Maju Samuel)