SINGAPORE: The Middle East crude market stayed firm on Wednesday with most February spot grades sold at higher differentials than the previous month.
Low official selling prices (OSPs) and robust demand for incremental crude in Asia supported differentials in February, pushing up premiums for Abu Dhabi Murban close to 60 cents a barrel.
A Japanese refiner has bought a Das crude cargo at more than 70 cents a barrel, a trader said.
Refiners across Asia are keeping crude runs high on good margins and to meet winter demand while the number of units to be shut for maintenance in Japan is set to fall this year.
TENDERS
Tasweeq has sold one al-Shaheen crude for February loading each to ExxonMobil and TonenGeneral, traders said.
The cargoes were sold at an average discount of 78 cents a barrel to dated Brent, one trader said, up from an average discount of $1.71 a barrel in the previous month. The deals could not be independently verified.
JOGMEC bought a Das cargo from a Japanese firm for delivery on Feb. 20-March 5.
Russia's Rosneft offered three cargoes of Sokol crude for loading on Feb 4-7, 16-19 and 19-22 in a tender to close on Dec. 18.
DME OMAN
DME Oman for February settled at $57.01 a barrel, down 24 cents, at 0830 GMT. This puts DME Oman at 40 cents a barrel below Dubai swaps, against a discount of 63 cents in the previous session.
MARKET NEWS
Core Gulf OPEC oil producers signalled this week they are prepared to wait as long as six months to a year to see the market stabilise, quashing hopes for any quick intervention to stop the price rout that took crude to under $60 per barrel.
Spain's Repsol has agreed to buy Talisman Energy , Canada's fifth-largest independent oil producer, for $8.3 billion as the drop in oil prices pushes energy companies to take the plunge on big M&A deals.
Forces allied to Libya's conflict parties clashed with heavy weapons on Tuesday over control of the country's biggest oil ports in the east as the European Union was considering sanctions on people obstructing UN-brokered peace talks.
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