SINGAPORE: The Middle East crude benchmarks weakened with cash Dubai's discount to swap widening above $1 after Chinaoil sold 16 of the partials traded during the Platts MoC process, traders said on Monday.
Oman's premium also slid after buying interest cooled late last week. Gasoline cracks, which dropped to 13-month lows, joined naphtha in dragging down overall refining margins.
Singapore complex refining margins, a bellwether for refiners' profits in the region, are on track in February to fall to the lowest since October, Thomson Reuters data showed.
Most buyers have completed their purchases for April-loading cargoes although some were still waiting for premiums to soften before taking another look at remaining supplies, traders said.
In China, crude oil imports from Russia fell 30 percent in January from a record in December, customs data showed, as independent refineries rested after a rush to buy at the end of last year.
"Teapots are taking a break after heavy imports ahead of 2016," said a China-based crude trader with an oil major who supplies the teapots.
Analysts at JBC Energy said crude throughput at teapots are expected to rise with the availability of cheap high quality crude and as their margins are underpinned by a gasoline price floor.
"However, independent refiners may reach a ceiling on rising run rates as they are limited by how much of their products they can sell to state companies for distribution and export," the analysts said.
DME OMAN
DME Oman for April settled at $30.81, down 43 cents, at 0830 GMT. This puts DME Oman at 4 cents a barrel above Dubai swaps, down from a premium of 9 cents in the previous session.
MARKET NEWS
Consultations on a preliminary deal between leading oil producers to freeze output should be concluded by March 1 after a group led by Russia and Saudi Arabia reached a common position this week in Doha, Russia's energy minister said.
A senior US energy official said he doubted the success of a proposal by OPEC and non-OPEC producers to freeze crude oil output in an oversupplied market and boost prices.
More attacks on Libya's oil facilities are likely unless a United Nations-backed unity government is approved, and militants hit one oilfield just last week, the head of the National Oil Corporation said on Monday.
Dozens of barges carrying refined oil products are being held outside major northwest European ports as storage tanks are saturated, traders said on Friday.
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