Mediterranean crude differentials to dated Brent were stable on Friday in thin trading, as traders awaited developments from Libya.

Production at the 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) Sharara field was shut in on Wednesday because of protests.

But differentials for other Mediterranean crude grades of similar light-sweet quality – such as Algerian Saharan Blend or Azeri BTC Blend – are yet to respond to the outage, sources said, as traders await further clarity on the impact of the outage.

PLATTS WINDOW

No deals, bids or offers in the Platts Window on Friday, a market source said.

NEWS
OPEC oil output rose in December, a Reuters survey found on Friday, as increases in Iraq, Angola and Nigeria offset ongoing cuts by Saudi Arabia and other members of the wider OPEC+ alliance to support the market.

The government of Azerbaijan has appointed its ecology and natural resources minister Mukhtar Babayev as the president of the United Nations COP29 climate talks to be held in Baku in November.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Europe’s top diplomat Josep Borrell began a new diplomatic push on Friday to quell the spillover of the Gaza war into Israeli-occupied West Bank, Lebanon and Red Sea shipping lanes.

China’s oil trade with Iran has stalled as Tehran withholds shipments and demands higher prices from its top client, tightening cheap supply for the world’s biggest crude importer, refinery and trade sources said.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Robert Harvey, Editing by Louise Heavens)