RTRS:Middle East Crude-Saudi may cut crude OSPs to Asia
SINGAPORE, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia
will probably cut prices for most grades of crude it sells to
Asia in September, after two months of increases, as weak demand
dragged down the spot market, a Reuters poll showed on
Wednesday.
The producer could cut the September official selling prices
(OSPs) for Arab Medium and Heavy by up to $1 a barrel from the
previous month, and the OSP for Arab Light and Arab Extra Light
by 60 cents a barrel, according to the median of estimates by
six traders and refiners.
Traders waited for OSPs from Saudi Arabia and other top
Middle Eastern producers to get a sense of the direction of the
October-loading market. Rising supply and declining demand have
been weighing on sentiment, dragging the spot market lower.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is expected to cut its OSP
by about 10 cents a barrel while the OSP for Qatar Marine may be
lowered by 60 cents a barrel, traders said.
The official selling price (OSP) for Oman crude in
September, based on the average of the daily settlement prices
for the front-month contract, will rise by $5.05 to $99.47 a
barrel, according to Reuters calculations based on data from the
Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME).
*MARKET NEWS
- Qatar, one of OPEC's smallest producers, has notified at
least one Asian buyer that it will supply Land crude at full
contracted volumes for September, unchanged from August levels,
a trade source said on Wednesday.
- President Barack Obama announced new U.S. sanctions on
Tuesday against foreign banks that help Iran sell its oil and
said the measure would add pressure on Tehran for failing to
meet its international nuclear obligations.
- Iraq's oil exports rose to 2.516 million barrels per day
(bpd) on average in July compared with 2.403 million bpd in
June, the head of the State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO)
told Reuters on Wednesday.
- South Korea's crude oil imports in July rose 0.8 percent
from a year earlier, preliminary customs figures released by the
economy ministry showed on Wednesday. Final import figures will
be available later in the month from state-run Korea National
Oil Corp (KNOC).
CRUDE Price Prev Change
OCT DME Oman diff to Dubai swaps +0.96 +0.98 -0.02
SEP Brent 104.99 105.61 -0.62
OCT Dubai 100.46 101.15 -0.69
OCT DME Oman 101.42 102.13 -0.71
SEP Brent/Dubai EFS 4.07 4.27 -0.20
