SINGAPORE: The Middle East crude market weakened on Thursday as abundant supply and weak demand continued to weigh on the market despite a slight improvement in refining margins.
Shell sold two Dubai partials to Vitol in the Platts window at $100.60 a barrel.
Refining margins have improved slightly over the past 10 days, mainly due to improving middle distillate cracks.
Murban was discussed at 80-90 cents a barrel below the official selling price (OSP), while Das Blend was discussed at around 60 cents below its OSP, although no deals were done, traders said.
"I think some buyers see values at a 60 cent or even 50 cent discount," a Singapore-based trader said referring to Das Blend.
"Even if differentials go up, there will still be lots of light grades available going into next month," the trader said.
Qatar Marine was heard sold out, while trading in Basra Light remained muted as Asian refiners continued to avoid the riskier grade in a well-supplied market.
TENDERS
Russia's Surgut sold three ESPO cargoes loading Oct. 10-14, Oct. 16-20 and Oct. 21-25 in a tender at $1.50-$1.80 a barrel above Dubai quotes. The buyers could not be confirmed, although traders said Lukoil bought one cargo.
DME OMAN
DME Oman for October settled at $101.58, down 54 cents, at 0830 GMT. This puts DME Oman at 1 cent a barrel above Dubai swaps, down from a premium of 26 cents in the previous session.
MARKET NEWS
China's Guanghui Energy has received a crude oil import licence from the government, becoming one of only a few private firms to win the sought-after permit as Beijing slowly loosens its grip on the state-controlled market.
OPEC member Venezuela is considering importing crude oil for the first time and could use Algerian light crude as blending stock to boost sales of its own extra heavy oil, according to an internal document from the state-run energy company PDVSA seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
The North Sea's Buzzard oilfield resumed exports on Wednesday, operator Nexen said in a statement, after a shutdown earlier this week to carry out additional work on a drilling rig.
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