SINGAPORE: The spot differential for Qatar Marine hit a five-month low on Thursday as ample supply and weak demand in Asia continued to weigh on the Middle East crude market.
Mitsui has sold an October-loading Qatar Marine cargo to Shell at 80 cents a barrel below its OSP, traders said. The grade was last traded at this level for May-loading barrels, according to Reuters data.
Upper Zakum may have been sold at 70 cents a barrel below its OSP although the buyer and seller were not known.
Fuji Oil issued a tender to buy Banoco Arab Medium and sell Oman on Thursday although the result was not immediately known.
The Japanese refiner bought via a tender a Murban cargo from Unipec at 95 cents a barrel below its OSP, traders said, the lowest differential in six months for the Abu Dhabi flagship grade.
At least two cargoes of rival Sokol were still being offered, a trader said, which could depress the premium for the Russian grade. Sokol last traded at $4.40-$4.50 a barrel above Dubai quotes.
"It's still a buyers' market," a second trader said.
Sour condensate supply is expected to rise as Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) has offered cargoes for October-loading in a rare move ahead of a planned shut-down of refining units for scheduled maintenance between October and January, trade sources said.
ADNOC has offered 500,000-600,000 barrels of Uweinat condensate to be split into two cargoes to load in October, and it could offer up to 3 million barrels of Thammama, or six 500,000-barrel cargoes, in November, one of the sources said.
ADNOC's exports and a stronger Dubai benchmark may cool down strong premiums for Qatari condensate. Tasweeq will award later on Thursday a tender to sell deodorised field condensate and low sulphur condensate.
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