SINGAPORE: An overhang of October-loading cargoes weighed on the Asia-Pacific crude market on Monday, although improving refining margins may provide some support.
Sakhalin Energy sold 730,000 barrels of Vityaz crude loading Nov 5-12 at around $2 a barrel above Dubai quotes.
Premiums for the light sweet grade have dropped over the last two months in line with other Russian grades such as ESPO and Sokol due to ample supply and a strong Dubai benchmark.
Vityaz fetched premiums of between $1.30 and $2.50 a barrel for October-loading cargoes, according to Reuters data. Sakhalin Energy may issue its monthly tender next week for one November-loading cargo.
Indonesia's Petral closed a tender on Monday to buy sweet crude for arrival in November.
The result of another import tender that closed last week was not known. In a third tender, Petral, the trading arm of state-owned Pertamina, last week bought 600,000 barrels of Su Tu Den.
Su Tu Den among other grades were still available in the market for October-loading, traders said.
Regional Brent-linked grades continued to find some support from the European benchmark's narrow premium to Dubai crude, making them more attractive relative to Middle East grades.
Brent's premium to Dubai swaps, or Brent-Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS), narrowed 38 cents to $1.30 a barrel.
The fall came as Brent futures prices fell below $100 a barrel for the first time in 14 months on Monday, pulled down by weak Chinese trade data for August.
A sustained drop below the $100-mark will put pressure on the budgets of many exporters, and raise questions of whether top exporter Saudi Arabia may pump less in an attempt to support prices.
Despite weak trade data, China's crude oil imports rose 6 percent in the month from July to 25.19 million tonnes, or 5.96 million barrels per day (bpd).
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