SINGAPORE: Middle East crude benchmarks were mixed on Wednesday with DME Oman's premium to Dubai swaps hitting a 2-month high while cash Dubai weakened for a second session.
Unipec and Reliance sold nine October Dubai partials to Chinaoil, mostly at $38.60, during the window, traders said, putting cash Dubai at a discount of 60 cents a barrel to swaps, 8 cents lower than the previous session.
Mercuria sold a December partial to Unipec at $39.40 a barrel, they said.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) said on Wednesday it has cut the July retroactive selling price for its benchmark Murban crude to $44.60 per barrel, dropping the grade's differential to Dubai to the lowest in eight months.
The deeper-than-expected price cuts followed those of Saudi Arabia on Sunday, and were likely aimed at maintaining United Arab Emirates' market share in Asia as demand is expected to contract during peak maintenance season in October.
Murban's differential to Dubai for July was cut by 66 cents to $2.14 a barrel, the lowest since November, Reuters calculations showed. This was against traders' expectations of a 40-50 cents-a-barrel cut.
Still, the depth of the Murban cut is much shallower than that of the official selling price of Saudi grade Arab Extra Light, which was set at 10 cents above the average of Oman/Dubai quotes for September, down $1.60 from the previous month.
ADNOC's price cuts are "still not enough to make their grades competitive" against the Saudi crudes, a trader with a North Asian firm said.
The OSP differentials for Das and Upper Zakum were down 66 cents and 46 cents, respectively.
Traders are watching out for Qatar OSPs next. Qatar typically adjusts its prices in line with ADNOC, although one trader expects a deeper cut for Marine crude of 80 cents a barrel on lacklustre demand for its spot cargoes last month.
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