Spot premium for Murban, a light sour Mideast oil benchmark, extended gains on Friday to its highest in nine weeks, as the ongoing Red Sea conflict and rising freight rates propelled Asian refiners to haul oil from near-home regions.
Murban was pegged at $1.67 a barrel over Dubai quotes, a level last seen on Nov. 20.
A growing number of vessels are re-routing to travel around Africa to avoid potential attacks at the Red Sea, leading to higher ton-mile demand and tighter global shipping capacity.
Freight rates for Suezmax tanker, which can carry as much as 1 million barrels, to haul crude oil from Persian Gulf to East Asia climbed to Worldscale 140 this week, highest level since early April 2023, according to data from SSY.
In tenders, Vietnam’s PV Oil likely sold its 300,000 barrels Chim Sao crude, for March-loading, at a premium of around $7 a barrel over Dated Brent, according to trading sources. The grade was sold at around $6 a barrel over Dated Brent in the previous month.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps rose 5 cents to $0.98 per barrel.
NEWS
Oil tanks at a storage facility in the town of Klintsy in Russia’s Bryansk region caught fire after the military brought down a Ukrainian drone, Alexander Bogomaz, the regional governor, said on Friday.
The annual share of OPEC’s oil in India’s crude imports fell to its lowest level ever in 2023 while that of discounted Russian barrels surged to an all-time high, data obtained from trade and industry sources show.
U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell more than expected last week on strong demand from refineries, while gasoline and distillate inventories rose to multi-year highs, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Thursday.
Three permits given by the Norwegian government to develop new offshore oil and gas fields were found to be invalid on Thursday because their environmental impact was not sufficiently assessed, in a ruling that could set a precedent for new fields.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Muyu Xu; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)