Spot premiums for Middle East crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban eased slightly for a second straight session on Thursday, with Dubai and Oman premiums falling to less than $2 a barrel.

The premiums are still more than $1 a barrel higher than last month’s average, Reuters data showed.

SAUDI OSP

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia is expected to cut October prices for most of the crude grades it sells to Asia after Middle East benchmark Dubai slumped last month.

The October official selling price (OSP) for flagship Arab Light crude is expected to fall by between 50 cents and 70 cents a barrel, three of five refining sources said in a Reuters survey, to track a similar trend for Dubai price spreads last month.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps was at $1.98 a barrel, down from $2.02 on Wednesday and an average of 90 cents a barrel last month.

OPEC+ is nearing an agreement to delay an oil output increase scheduled to start in October after prices hit their lowest in nine months.

The 600,000-barrel oil tanker Front Jaguar was loading at Libya’s Brega port on Wednesday despite a blockade that has halted other exports.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan, Editing by David Goodman)