SINGAPORE: Spot differentials for Russia's Sokol grade fell in the Asia-Pacific crude market following higher production.
ONGC sold 700,000 barrels of Sokol loading Feb. 1-7 in a tender to SK Energy at $2.60 a barrel above Oman/Dubai quotes, traders said.
That is equivalent to about $3 a barrel above Dubai quotes, down by more than half from a year ago and the lowest premium since Dec. 2011, when Reuters' record started.
Nine or ten Sokol cargoes could be available for export in February, up from a monthly average of about seven for most of 2014, traders said.
Thailand's PTT may have bought a cargo of Australian Cossack crude in a tender for early-February arrival to its IRPC refinery, a trader said. Further details of the tender that closed on Friday were unclear.
Brent-Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS), or Brent's premium to Dubai swaps, narrowed 20 cents to $2.20 a barrel.
China's crude imports rose a stronger-than-expected 7.9 percent in November from a year earlier to 25.41 million tonnes, or 6.18 million barrels per day (bpd).
Chinaoil, the trading arm of PetroChina, boosted its purchases in the Platts trading window in October, taking up nearly 24 million barrels of Middle Eastern crude, which traders and refinery sources said would largely end up in storage.
Morgan Stanley cut its average 2015 Brent base case outlook by $28 to $70 per barrel and for 2016, by $14 to $88 a barrel.
MARKET NEWS
Oil prices are likely to remain around $65 a barrel for the next six to seven months, the head of Kuwait's state oil company said on Monday.
The United States will continue to boost oil production but falling global prices will slow down the pace, President Barack Obama's chief economic adviser said on Sunday.
Trafigura, one of the world's largest commodities traders, reported on Monday a 13 percent rise in core earnings to $1.309 billion in the fiscal year to September 2014.
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