SINGAPORE: The Middle East crude market weakened on Monday, with discounts to both the cash Dubai and DME Oman benchmarks widening against Dubai swaps.
Trading of February cargoes was mostly over, with spot differentials for most grades facing downward pressure towards the end of the month, as refiners had largely met their requirements early on in the trading cycle.
Activity was muted, with many traders away on holiday, although one said that a few Murban cargoes could still be available in the market.
Cash Dubai's discount widened after Unipec sold a February Dubai partial to BP at $32.25 a barrel, putting the Dubai cash price at about $1.70 below Dubai swaps.
Japan's total oil product sales in November fell to a 46-year low, as a shrinking population and warmer-than-normal weather dented demand for all of the main product grades despite lower crude oil prices, trade ministry data showed on Monday.
Still, Japan's crude oil imports in November rose 6.0 percent from a year earlier to 3.26 million barrels per day (15.55 million kilolitres), the data showed.
A total of 22 cargoes of ESPO crude, including one 145,000-tonne cargo, will load from the Pacific port of Kozmino in February, a preliminary loading plan showed. The programme included two cross-month cargoes.
Saudi Arabia has destabilised the global oil market by increasing production, TASS news agency quoted Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak as saying on Monday.
"Saudi Arabia has this year increased production by 1.5 million barrels per day, thus effectively destabilising the situation on the market," Novak was quoted as saying.
DME OMAN
DME Oman for February settled at $32.43, down 46 cents, at 0830 GMT. This puts DME Oman at $1.52 a barrel below Dubai swaps, down from a discount of $1.33 on Wednesday last week.
REFINERY
Japan's top oil refiner JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp said on Monday it would trim its domestic crude refining plans in January from a year earlier, due to unspecified problems with its refining operations and scheduled maintenance.
Japanese refiner Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd said it plans to process 501,000 barrels per day (7.25 million kilolitres) of crude oil in January-March, steady from a year earlier.
MARKET NEWS
Japan's total oil product sales in November fell to a 46-year low, as a shrinking population and warmer-than-normal weather dented demand for all of the main product grades despite lower crude oil prices, trade ministry data showed on Monday.
Asian imports of Iranian oil in November fell by the most in nine months with India and South Korea cutting their imports as buyers mainly hold off on raising their purchases after July's landmark agreement on Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.
Thailand's PTT Pcl plans to spend 297 billion baht ($8.2 billion) over the next five years, mainly on building infrastructure such as natural gas pipelines, its chief executive said.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.