Asian differentials for March lifting Oman crude oil were stable from last week at MOG minus three/minus eight cents in thin activity, traders said on Monday.
The quiet trade for Oman was attributed to soft demand from China, as most Chinese buyers remained sidelined after getting back from last week's lunar New Year holidays.
"I think Chinese buyers will start buying medium grades like Oman later this week, but nothing has happened so far," a trader at a European major said.
The market also heard a major and a US oil company had each sold one March lifting Qatar Marine cargo at Qatar Price (QP) minus six cents and QP minus four cents respectively, but traders did not know who the buyers were for the unconfirmed deals.
In tender news, Qatar Petroleum awarded four 500,000-barrel cargoes of Rasgas condensate for March lifting to Nippon Oil Corp, Mitsubishi Corp, Exxon Mobil Corp and Hyundai Oilbank Corp.
The awarded price for the cargoes was at Dubai spot quote plus $3.50/$4.00 a barrel, traders said.
Qatar Petroleum had closed the tender on January 19, with bids valid until January 21.
The March exchange for swaps (EFS) for Brent/Dubai was priced at around $2.09 a barrel on Monday, narrower than Friday's level of $2.16.