SINGAPORE: The Middle East crude market was underpinned by strong demand as refiners benefited from low oil prices and high naphtha cracks to secure cargoes.
Bahrain's BAPCO may have sold a cargo of Banoco Arab Medium in a tender to an unknown buyer at between flat and 5 cents a barrel above its official selling price (OSP), traders said.
The grade recovered in line with other medium grades after being traded at 5-9 cents a barrel discount earlier this month.
Medium grades had tracked lighter grades such as Murban higher as refiners rushed to secure cargoes amid tighter supply and low prices.
"Crude is cheap now, so people are not concerned about holding inventory," one trader said.
Russian Sokol crude for January loading was trading around $4 a barrel above Dubai quotes, traders said, although the result of a tender by ONGC to sell a Jan. 17-23 cargo remained unclear.
ESPO crude was steady at 2.50-$2.90 a barrel above Dubai quotes, traders said. The result of a tender by Rosneft to sell two cargoes loading Jan. 10-15 and Jan. 21-26 was expected on Wednesday.
Gunvor bought one Dubai partial from India's Reliance at $40.25 a barrel, a trader said.
DME OMAN
DME Oman for January settled at $40.85 a barrel, up $1.47 cents, at 0830 GMT. This puts DME Oman at $1.61 a barrel below Dubai swaps, compared with a discount of $1.65 in the previous session.
MARKET NEWS
Saudi Arabia's cabinet said on Monday it was ready to cooperate with OPEC and non-OPEC countries to achieve market stability, days before OPEC meets to review its year-long policy of not supporting prices.
Investor are betting more heavily on a fall in Brent crude oil than they have at any time in more than a year, according to data on Monday from the InterContinental Exchange (ICE).
India's crude oil imports from the Asia-Pacific region spiked last month as its refiners looked beyond their traditional suppliers for cheaper purchases amid a global supply glut.
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