SINGAPORE: DME Oman crude futures rose above ICE Brent in a rare move for the Middle East marker on Thursday, the last trading day of the month.
Traders attributed the price volatility in Oman to thin trade volumes. The Middle East futures contract's premium against Dubai also soared.
A flurry of trades took place on the Platts window as traders squared positions. A total 77 Dubai partials were traded and Unipec will deliver two Upper Zakum cargoes to Chinaoil.
September Russian ESPO remained depressed on higher supply and weak demand in Asia.
Surgutneftegas sold three cargoes to Mercuria, Shell and Lukoil at $2.20-$2.50 a barrel above Dubai quotes for loading on Sept. 18-22, 24-28 and 26-30.
Rosneft sold three of its cargoes to Unipec and one to JX Nippon via a tender at $2.20-$2.70 a barrel above Dubai quotes. The cargoes will load on Sept. 12-15, 15-18, 19-22, 23-26 and Sept. 28-Oct. 1.
Russia is expected to ship 2.5 million tonnes of ESPO crude from the Pacific port of Kozmino in September, a monthly record high, industry sources said.
This was equivalent to three more cargoes added to the September programme.
Brent-Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS) narrowed 35 cents to $1.95 a barrel for September, near a more than two-year low reached in the middle of this month.
*DME OMAN
DME Oman for September settled at $106.00, down 54 cents, at 0830 GMT. This puts DME Oman at $2.75 a barrel above Dubai swaps against a premium of $0.66 in the previous session.
The official selling price (OSP) for Oman crude in September will fall by $1.84 to $106.24 a barrel, Reuters calculations based on data from the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) showed on Thursday.
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