SINGAPORE: The Middle East crude benchmark Dubai gained on Tuesday on firm demand from Chinaoil and Gunvor.
Dubai's discount to swaps narrowed about 10 cents after Chinaoil bought two Dubai partials from Unipec during the Platts MoC process, leading to the convergence of an Oman cargo. This is the fourth cargo Chinaoil bought this month.
Gunvor also purchased a partial from Unipec.
Russian crude premiums were steady to higher, buoyed by robust demand from North Asian refiners as high freight rates deterred purchases for faraway supplies.
Sokol premiums rose after ExxonMobil sold the last available spot cargo loading in February at $6.10 a barrel above Dubai quotes to an unknown buyer, traders said.
Spot premiums for ESPO held steady at just above $4 a barrel after Tenergy sold a cargo loading on Feb. 7-12 to an unknown buyer, they said.
Rosneft will close on Tuesday a tender to sell two ESPO cargoes loading on Feb. 1-5 and 5-10. Bids will remain valid until Dec. 24.
IRPC and CPC are expected to award by end Tuesday their tenders to buy sour crude for February loading.
Pertamina sold 1 million barrels of Basra Heavy for January loading in a tender to Shell at 57 cents a barrel above its OSP, traders said, in line with earlier deals.
DME OMAN
DME Oman for February settled at $31.95, up 57 cents, at 0830 GMT. This puts DME Oman at $1.48 a barrel below Dubai swaps, up from a discount of $1.55 in the previous session.
Dubai has set its official crude differential for March at parity to DME Oman futures, the Dubai Department of Petroleum Affairs said on Tuesday.
MARKET NEWS
Indonesia will let private investors build oil refineries in a regulation to be issued "in days", its chief economics minister said on Monday.
Iran's crude oil exports could rise by half a million barrels per day within 6-12 months once sanctions against it are lifted, the International Energy Agency said on Monday, adding to a glut that has pulled Brent prices to levels last seen in 2004.
Libya's Tripoli-based National Oil Corp. (NOC) said it would take legal action to stop any export of the country's oil outside of its own channels.
The Thames Oilport terminal near London will open next spring, its operator Greenergy said on Monday, as a rising glut in oil supplies has made storage one of the industry's most attractive investments.
Russia's oil production may start declining in 2017 if a tough taxation policy continues, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said in interview to the Kommersant news daily published on Tuesday.
Oil output at Britain's North Sea Buzzard oil field has returned to normal, a trade source said on Monday, after a problem at the Kinneil processing plant was resolved.
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