Spot premiums for Middle East crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban eased on Tuesday while Brent’s premium to Dubai crude slipped to its lowest level this month.
Brent’s premium to Dubai crude dropped 46 cents to $1.69 a barrel after the global benchmark fell with easing geopolitical risks in the Middle East. O/R
Thai refiner IRPC has bought one cargo of Das crude for October loading from TotalEnergies at 50-55 cents a barrel above Dubai quotes, traders said, a higher premium than last week.
The tender was awarded after PTT purchased October loading Qatar Marine, Murban and Umm Lulu crude earlier in the month, they added.
Taiwanese refiner CPC is expected to award in the coming days a sour crude purchase tender.
RUSSIAN CRUDE
China’s crude oil imports from top supplier Russia fell in July by 7.4% from a year earlier, official data showed on Tuesday, in line with a broad decline in Chinese refiners’ purchases that were curbed by tepid fuel demand at home.
Russian oil arrivals, including via pipelines and shipments, totalled 7.46 million metric tons last month, or 1.76 million barrels per day (bpd), according to data from the General Administration of Customs.
That compared with June’s 2.05 million bpd and 1.9 million bpd in July 2023.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps fell 5 cents to 79 cents a barrel.
Four October-loading cargoes were delivered on the window. Gunvor will receive an Upper Zakum crude cargo from Mitsui and an al-Shaheen crude cargo from PetroChina. Vitol will receive two al-Shaheen crude cargoes from PetroChina and P66.
This brings the total number of cargoes delivered so far this month to 12 with Vitol and Gunvor receiving seven and five cargoes, respectively.
NEWS
A looming labor dispute at Canada’s two main railroads is unlikely to significantly reduce oil exports to the United States due to excess capacity on Trans Mountain and other pipelines, people close to the matter said.
Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which exports crude oil from Kazakhstan via a Russian Black Sea terminal, increased oil exports by around 3% year on year in January – July to 1.43 million barrels per day, two industry sources said on Monday.
Production at Libya’s Sharara oilfield has risen to about 85,000 barrels per day in a move aimed at supplying the Zawia oil refinery, two engineers working at the field told Reuters on Monday.
Polish state-owned refiner Orlen PKN.WA will receive 6 metric tons of oil from British energy group BP BP.L under a year-long agreement, it said on Monday.
China’s fuel oil imports fell for a third consecutive month in July, customs data showed on Tuesday.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)