SINGAPORE: Cash Dubai in the Middle East crude market remained under pressure from sales by Chinaoil, the trading arm of PetroChina, during the trading window on Tuesday.
Chinaoil will deliver a seventh Upper Zakum cargo to Shell after sales of 20 Dubai partials, traders said.
Chinaoil also bought three Oman partials from Shell during the window which narrowed the Oman-Dubai spread, one trader said.
Asia's trading focus shifted to Russian ESPO which has recently traded at around $3 a barrel above Dubai quotes. Rosneft has a tender to sell three cargoes, due to be awarded on Christmas day.
More North Sea Forties could also head to Asia as differentials for the grade have fallen to the lowest in nearly three months, enabling it to compete with Middle East and Russian grades of similar quality.
Trafigura has fixed Very Large Crude Carrier DHT Eagle to lift Forties from Hound Point on Jan. 5 for $7.125 million to South Korea, according to a shipbroker.
South Korea resumed North Sea Forties imports in November after a 4-month hiatus, data from the Korea National Oil Corp showed. About 3.4 million barrels of European crude arrived in November, KNOC data showed.
TENDERS
Tasweeq has sold three deodorised field condensate (DFC) cargoes for loading in February at small premiums to Dubai quotes, traders said, up from a discount of about $1 in the previous month. A trader put the February premiums at between parity and 30 cents a barrel.
Tasweeq did not sell any low sulphur condensate (LSC) in the tender, traders said.
DME OMAN
DME Oman for February settled at $57.05 a barrel, down $2.63, at 0830 GMT. This puts DME Oman at $1.01 a barrel below Dubai swaps, against a discount of $1.21 in the previous session.
MARKET NEWS
Iraq's Kurdish region will continue to export its own crude oil under an initial deal with Baghdad until a comprehensive deal is reached, with work on a final agreement expected to start within weeks, Iraqi oil minister Adel Abdel Mehdi said on Monday.
The ambitions of Kremlin-controlled oil champion Rosneft to boost its global reach have been reined in by US authorities, which torpedoed its acquisition of a Morgan Stanley oil trading business.
Plunging oil prices will prompt energy companies to cut investments in new projects by 25 percent or more in 2015, analysts said over the past week, as firms try to stay cash-flow positive and keep debt in check.
Fighting between Libya's competing governments has spread to a third oil port, curbing gas exports to Italy and cutting crude production to less than needed to cover the North African country's own domestic requirements, officials said.
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