SINGAPORE: Light grades in the Middle East crude market fetched stronger differentials for February than the previous month, buoyed by robust demand, traders said on Thursday.
Japanese refiner Fuji Oil bought a Murban cargo via a tender at a premium of 22 cents a barrel to its OSP, traders said. The Abu Dhabi flagship crude traded at close to parity for January.
TonenGeneral was heard to have bought a February Das cargo at about 30 cents a barrel above its OSP, up from a single-digit premium.
A rise in middle distillates margins has boosted demand for light grades.
Sellers for Banoco Arab Medium are also aiming for higher premiums after a cargo traded at about 20 cents a barrel above OSP, traders said.
Unipec raised its offer for Banoco Arab Medium to a premium of 50 cents a barrel, a trader said, but a refiner balked at the level.
"It's better to get more Arab Medium from Saudi directly," the refiner said.
DME OMAN
DME Oman for February settled at $62.40 a barrel, down $1.25, at 0830 GMT. This puts DME Oman at 52 cents a barrel below Dubai swaps, against a discount of 66 cents in the previous session.
MARKET NEWS
Iraq will give a bigger discount for heavy crude that it exports from its southern ports in Basra next year, three sources with knowledge of the matter said.
The discount, also known as a de-escalation factor, is set at 60 cents a barrel for every API degree below 27, they said. This will come into effect from Jan. 1, 2015, one source said.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi on Wednesday shrugged off suggestions that the world's biggest crude exporter might cut production to reverse the deepest price slump in years, saying the kingdom's output had remained steady through last month.
Global demand for OPEC crude in 2015 is expected to fall to the lowest level in more than a decade and far below current output, the group said on Wednesday, pointing to a hefty supply surplus without OPEC output cuts or a slowdown in the US shale boom.
India's Essar Group will sign a long-term crude oil import deal with Russia's Rosneft during President Vladimir Putin's visit to New Delhi on Thursday, government and industry sources said.
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