Middle East crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban rose at the start of the week, buoyed by heightened geopolitical risk following a missile hit on a Trafigura-operated tanker and a drone attack on U.S. forces in Jordan over the weekend.

As shipowners grew increasingly cautious about sailing through the Red Sea, the spread between Brent- and Dubai-pegged oil widened to $1.75 a barrel on Monday, a level last seen in late October.

A wider Brent/Dubai spread would discourage Asian refiners to haul oil from Atlantic Basin and lend support to Mideast oil demand.

However, putting a lid on the spot premium gains for Oman, Dubai and Murban is concern over supply increase. UAE’s ADNOC will have 1.605 million barrels per day (bpd) of Murban available for export in March and 1.602 million bpd in April, compared with 1.513 million bpd in January, the company said in a report on Monday.

The rise of Murban exports come as the commence of the crude flexibility project at Abu Dhabi’s Ruwais refinery, which will allow the plant to process more heavier crude such as Upper Zakum and free the outflows of light grades such as Murban.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps rose 11 cents to $1.15 per barrel.

Trafigura will deliver one March-loading al-Shaheen crude to Gunvor following the trade. Reliance will deliver one Oman crude to Vitol, also for March-loading.

NEWS

OPEC+ will likely decide its oil production levels for April and beyond in the coming weeks, OPEC+ sources said, adding that a meeting of a key ministerial panel next Thursday would take place too early to take decisions on further output policy.

The head of Russian oil major Gazprom Neft said on Saturday he sees no need for additional oil supply cuts by OPEC+ oil producers, days before the group is due to meet on output policy.

Shell’s exit from Nigeria’s onshore oil sector highlights risks oil majors face in Africa’s biggest exporter but has raised hopes that local firms could reverse the output decline from the Niger Delta, industry officials and analysts said.

U.S. energy firms this week added oil and natural gas rigs for a second week in a row for the first time since early December, energy services firm Baker Hughes said in its closely followed report on Friday.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Muyu Xu; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)