SINGAPORE: The Middle Eastern crude market was little changed on Monday as traders awaited the announcement of official selling prices (OSPs) from producers, which are expected to begin this week.
Kuwait plans to supply full contractual crude oil volumes to at least two Asian buyers in October-December, steady from July-September, trading sources said on Monday.
Kuwait has been supplying full contractual crude oil volumes to Asia since July 2011, when it ended a 5 percent curb that had been in place since February 2009.
OSP:
- Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia will probably raise its official selling prices for the lighter grades of crude that it sells to Asia in October because of a stronger Dubai market and narrowing product cracks, a Reuters poll showed on Monday.
The producer could raise the October official selling prices (OSPs) for Arab Light and Arab Extra Light by 50 cents a barrel from the previous month, while those for Arab Medium and Arab Heavy could rise by 10-20 cents a barrel, the poll showed.
- Dubai crude oil quoted by price-reporting agency Platts averaged $108.59 a barrel for August, up $9.44 from July, traders said on Monday. The average is used as the basis for the Abu Dhabi and Qatari retroactive August OSPs, which are set as differentials to Dubai.
TENDERS
- Russian producer Surgut's tender to sell 700,000 barrels of ESPO crude for October loading closed on Monday. Traders said it may be awarded at a premium of $3.75 to $4.25 to Dubai quotes.
- Russian producer Rosneft also offered 730,000 barrels of November loading crude in a tender that closes on Wednesday.
REFINERY NEWS:
- Japan's top oil refiner, JX Nippon, said on Monday it restarted the 136,000 barrels per day (bpd) sole crude distillation unit (CDU) at the Oita refinery in southwestern Japan on Saturday, slightly ahead of schedule.
MARKET NEWS
- Iran's oil exports are at their normal levels and are unaffected by Western embargoes, an Iranian oil official was quoted as saying on Sunday. He did not give any figures on Iran's current oil export levels.
- Power demand in Japan rose 2.1 percent in August from a year earlier, marking the first year-on-year gain in three months, a Reuters calculation based on industry data showed on Monday, with hotter-than-normal weather boosting the use of air-conditioning.
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