Middle East Crude-Benchmarks firm; Nov trades to start

SINGAPORE: Middle East crude benchmarks stayed firm on Tuesday as traders waited for November-loading deals to emerge for price direction.

November-loading Upper Zakum may have traded at premiums of above 40 cents a barrel to its official selling price (OSP), traders said, although it was unclear which companies were involved in the deal.

SAUDI: At least three North Asian buyers will receive extra supplies of oil from Saudi Arabia after the kingdom cut its prices for most grades in October and as they look to cushion the impact on supply from US sanctions on Iran, sources said.

Buyers have asked to lift more Saudi oil than contracted volumes in October amid fears that the sanctions, to be imposed on Iran's crude exports from Nov. 4, will crimp supply during peak winter demand in Asia, the sources said.

Saudi Aramco will supply more oil to the buyers in October, with one to receive more Arab Light crude, the sources said.

QATAR: Fourteen al-Shaheen crude cargoes are expected to load in November, 1-2 lower than the previous month, traders said.

Qatar Petroleum issued a tender on Tuesday to sell four al-Shaheen crude oil cargoes for November-loading, two sources said.

It offered two 500,000-barrel cargoes to load on Nov. 3-4 and Nov. 28-29, and another two 600,000-barrel cargoes to load on Nov. 22-23 and Nov. 26-27.

The tender will close on Sept. 13 and remain valid until a day later.

The grade is expected to trade at a much higher premium than the previous month, tracking the strength in Dubai benchmark in Asia, traders said.

OSP: Kuwait and Iran have reduced their October OSPs for most crude grades sold to Asia, in line with the market's expectation.

Kuwait cut the October OSP for crude sold to Asia by 15 cents a barrel from the previous month, an industry source told Reuters.

Kuwait will sell crude to its Asian customers at a discount of 60 cents a barrel to the average of Oman/Dubai benchmark prices in October, compared with a discount of 45 cents in September.

Iran set the OSP of its Iranian Light grade for its Asian buyers at $1.10 above the Oman/Dubai average for October, up $0.10 from the previous month, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The October OSP for Iranian Heavy and Forozan were cut by $0.15, while that for Soroush is down $0.50.

WINDOW: Cash Dubai's premium to swaps edged down 1 cent to $1.48 a barrel, but remained well supported by demand from Shell as it bought six November partials from Unipec.