RTRS:Middle East Crude-Saudi may raise light crude OSPs for October
SINGAPORE, Sept 3 (Reuters) - 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.
CRUDE Price Prev Change
OCT DME Oman diff to Dubai swaps +0.95 +0.53 +0.42
OCT Brent 114.55 113.23 +1.32
OCT Dubai 111.15 109.95 +1.20
NOV DME Oman 112.10 110.72 +1.38
OCT Brent/Dubai EFS 3.40 3.28 0.12
PRODUCT CRACKS
OCT fuel oil crack -5.57 -5.49 -0.08
OCT gasoil crack 19.91 20.05 -0.14
OCT naphtha crack -6.11 -6.62 +0.51
COMPLEX REFINERY MARGINS
Today +8.42
Last 5 days +9.68
Last 365 days +7.38