SINGAPORE: The Middle East crude benchmarks held steady on Thursday with Chinaoil's purchases underpinning Dubai.
Chinaoil bought two Dubai partials from Reliance during the Platts MoC process, which led to the delivery of an Upper Zakum cargo, traders said.
The trading arm of PetroChina has so far taken deliveries of 14 cargoes, nine Upper Zakum and five al-Shaheen, during the MoC.
Traders are looking ahead to a new round of official selling prices (OSPs) from producers next week.
Strong spot sales this month are expected to translate to price hikes from Abu Dhabi and Qatar, they said.
Murban's OSP differential to Dubai could rise by about 30 cents, while the OSP differentials for medium grades Upper Zakum and Qatar Marine are expected to increase by 40-50 cents.
DME OMAN
DME Oman futures for March settled at $29.08, up $2.06, at 0830 GMT. This put DME Oman at $0.97 a barrel below Dubai swaps, edging down from a discount of $0.95 in the previous session.
REFINERY
The residue fluid catalytic cracker (RFCC) at Abu Dhabi National Oil Co is down for two months due to catalyst issues, according to industry analyst Energy Aspects.
South Korea's S-Oil Corp sees 2016 refining margins staying healthy and Asian refiners will benefit from growing oil demand during this year that outpaces increases in refining capacity, the company said on Thursday.
MARKET NEWS
Russian officials have decided they should talk to Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries about output cuts to bolster oil prices, the head of Russia's pipeline monopoly said on Wednesday, remarks that helped spur a sharp rise in world prices.
Major oil firms and trade houses are gradually resuming energy trading with Iran but efforts remain very cautious and often face huge legal obstacles, meaning a post-sanctions return to full-scale activity will take weeks if not months.
Royal Dutch Shell shareholders approved its $50 billion takeover of BG Group on Wednesday, clearing the last main hurdle to creating the biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) trader in the world.
Mexico's state-owned oil company Pemex exported just 1.008 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in December, the company said on Wednesday, the lowest in at least 25 years.
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