Middle East Crude-Mixed; Murban trades at wide discount

SINGAPORE: Middle East crude benchmarks were mixed on Monday with DME Oman edging up but cash Dubai fell.

Light sour Murban crude has finally traded after several days of offers from Total, BP and Vitol. Shell bought a March-loading Murban cargo from Total on Platts window at 30 cents a barrel below its official selling price, similar to discount levels seen in the previous month.

Qatar Petroleum issued a tender to sell three al-Shaheen cargoes loading in March. The producer could have up to 13 cargoes of al-Shaheen crude for that month, traders said.

BAPCO will close a tender on Monday to sell March-loading Banoco Arab Medium crude, while Surgut will close on Tuesday a tender to sell two March-loading Russian ESPO crude cargoes.

South Korea is set to resume Iranian condensate imports this month after a four-month gap. The resumption of Iranian supplies will continue to weigh on sour condensate prices.

ASIA-PACIFIC CRUDE: Petronas has set the price factor for Malaysian Crude Oil (MCO) for January at $5.50 per barrel, 10 cents higher than the previous month, the company said.

This marks the highest monthly price factor since Petronas changed its OSP mechanism effective January 2017, basing its benchmark price on a basket of four Malaysian crude grades Labuan, Miri Light, Kikeh and Kimanis.

Price for flagship Kimanis driven by strong middle distillates margins and lower crude exports from other southeast Asian countries, trade sources said.

Separately, PV Oil has awarded the tenders for Su Tu Den cargoes. It sold a 300,000-barrel cargo for Feb. 27-29 loading at a premium of $2.50-$3 and a 350,000-barrel cargo probably to Taiyo Oil at a premium of $3-$3.50 a barrel.

WINDOW: Cash Dubai's premium to swaps fell 5 cents to 19 cents a barrel.