The Middle East crude benchmark Dubai ended February in the positive territory as a flurry of trades on Tuesday nudged up its premium against swaps. Reliance sold most of the 28 April Dubai partials transacted on Tuesday's Platts window to Shell, Vitol, Gunvor and Chinaoil, a trader said. Trades started at $54.70 and ended the 30-minute session at $54.95.
Cash Dubai rose 9 cents a barrel to 14 cents above swaps, the highest premium since October, according to Reuters data. Elsewhere, top global oil exporter Saudi Arabia broke from the pack in the race to lock up Asian market share after agreeing on Tuesday to pump $7 billion into a refinery-petrochemical complex in Malaysia, analysts said. Under the deal with Malaysia's Petronas, Aramco will supply up to 70 percent of the crude for the RAPID refinery, which will consist of a 300,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) oil refinery and petrochemical plants. "The investment is wise as it ensures Saudi can increase its market share in Asia at a time when rising US shale oil is displacing Saudi oil from the US market," said Gordon Kwan, Nomura's head of Asia oil and gas research.
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