SINGAPORE: Middle East crude benchmark Dubai edged up on Monday after Shell snapped up as many as seven Upper Zakum cargoes in a single trading session.
The oil major took one Upper Zakum cargo each from Chevron, Petro-Diamond, Reliance, Total and Lukoil based on Dubai partials trades, and bought two floating cargoes from Exxon Mobil at 55 cents a barrel above its official selling price(OSP), traders said.
This brings Shell's total purchase on Platts window this month to 11 Upper Zakum cargoes and one Murban cargo.
Shell also placed a bid for a July-loading Murban cargo at 45 cents a barrel above its OSP, while Total offered a cargo at a premium of 50 cents a barrel.
Brent crude's premium to Dubai swaps <DUB-EFS-1M> rose to $4.05 a barrel by Monday's close, the highest since May 2018, Refinitiv data showed.
The wide price spread could boost Asia's demand for comparatively cheaper Middle East and Russian grades priced on Dubai quotes while weighing on spot premiums for oil from the Asia Pacific and the Atlantic Basin that are priced off Brent.
ASIA-PACIFIC CRUDE: Australian oil and gas company Santos has sold heavy sweet crude Pyrenees at an all-time high premium as traders continued to stock up the oil ahead of a ship fuel change mandate, traders said.
The 600,000-barrel cargo loading in late July was sold to a trading company at a premium close to $15 a barrel above dated Brent, they said.
Pyrenees is one of the handful Australian heavy sweet crude grades that are being sold at record premiums because of strong demand from traders who are storing the low-sulphur oil to prepare for a surge in ship fuel demand when IMO 2020 kicks in.
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