Qatar lowers March term price for al-Shaheen oil, first discount in years, sources say

SINGAPORE: State-owned QatarEnergy has set the term price for al-Shaheen crude oil loading in March at a discount for the first time in years, trade sources said, tracking declines in spot benchmarks.

The company set the March term price at minus 33 cents a barrel to Dubai quotes, down from a premium of 53 cents for February-loading cargoes.

Excess supply has been weighing on the Middle East crude oil market, with benchmark Dubai slipping into a discount against swaps at the beginning of this year for the first time since December 2023. QatarEnergy sold 4 cargoes at discounts at 32-35 cents a barrel to Dubai quotes to Totsa, the trading arm of TotalEnergies, and Unipec, the trading arm of Chinese oil major Sinopec, the sources said. Separately, Qatar awarded a Qatar Marine crude cargo at a discount of $1.08 per barrel to Thailand’s PTT.

It also awarded a Qatar Land cargo to Indian refiner Reliance, they said.

The companies typically do not comment on commercial deals.

All the cargoes are 500,000 barrels each. ‑R