SINGAPORE: Spot differentials in the Middle East crude market strengthened on Thursday as competitive prices and strong refining margins boosted Asian demand.
Gulf producers lowered their official selling prices (OSPs) this month in line with a weakening Dubai market since the end of 2014. The strong demand for Middle East grades brought Dubai's discount to Brent to its lowest since 2010.
Brent-Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS) for March was valued at $0.62 a barrel, down 63 cents from Wednesday's close and the narrowest since June 15, 2010. The April spread narrowed 20 cents to $1.12 a barrel.
Spot premiums for the Abu Dhabi flagship grade Murban rose more than some had expected, after Japan's Fuji Oil bought an April-loading cargo from Total at 40-45 cents a barrel above its OSP, an increase by 30-40 cents from last month.
March Banoco Arab Medium and Qatar Marine flipped into a premium against their OSPs. Banoco was sold at 40-50 cents per barrel above the Arab Medium OSP, while SK Energy and Shell bought the Qatari grade at 25-35 cents a barrel above its OSP, traders said.
Unipec sold 10 April Dubai partials to Shell in the window at around $54.15 a barrel.
Tasweeq issued a tender to sell April-loading al-Shaheen, but details were not available.
Sakhalin Energy issued a tender to sell 730,000 barrels of Sakhalin Blend, formerly Vityaz, loading April 24-May 1 that will close on Feb. 17.
In addition, three cargoes of Sakhalin Blend are due to load on April 30-May 7, May 7-14 and May 13-20.
Saudi Arabia, the world's top crude exporter, will supply full contracted volumes of crude oil to at least two Asian term buyers in March, unchanged from February, industry sources familiar with the matter said.
OSP
Iraq has dropped the March OSP for Basra Light crude to Asia by $0.40 to minus $4.10 a barrel against the average of Oman/Dubai quotes from the previous month, the State Oil Marketing Organization said.
DME OMAN
DME Oman for April settled at $55.16 a barrel, down 43 cents, at 0830 GMT. This puts DME Oman at 74 cents a barrel below Dubai swaps compared with a discount of 80 cents in the previous session.
MARKET NEWS
India slashed imports of Iranian oil in January as New Delhi scrambled to bring its purchases from the OPEC member in line with 2013 levels, according to data from trade sources and ship-tracking data on the Thomson Reuters terminal.
French major Total took a $6.5 billion writedown in the fourth quarter on Canadian oil sands, US shale gas and European refining assets as the collapse in oil prices sent net adjusted profits down 10 percent.
An oil tanker has docked at Libya's port of Hariga for the first time since security guards ended a strike this week and a storm passed, a port official said.
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