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Wednesday, April 24, 2024 20:48 GMT
Middle East crude benchmarks Oman and Dubai edged up on Tuesday, while Asia's spot differentials of condensate improved from last month thanks to strong naphtha and gasoline cracks. November-loading Qatar Marine crude was traded at spot discounts of around 10-20 cents a barrel to its official selling price (OSP), traders said. November-loading Qatari Low Sulfur Condensate (LSC) was traded at discounts of around US$2.5 a barrel to Dubai quotes to Korean and Indian buyers, traders said. October-loading Basra Heavy crude was heard to have been traded at a premium of 50-60 cents to its OSP, traders said.ASIA-PACIFIC CRUDE: CRU/TENDANovember-loading Malaysian Labuan crude was traded at a range of minus/plus around 50 cents to dated Brent, traders said. Vietnam's PV Oil has sold two 300,000-barrel cargoes of Chim Sao crude via a spot tender. The first cargo, loading Nov. 3-7, was sold to Exxon Mobil at a discount of around US$1 to dated Brent, while the second cargo, loading Nov. 24-28, was sold at a small premium to dated Brent to domestic Binh Son refinery, traders said. Santos has sold one cargo of East Timor's Bayu Undan condensate, loading Nov. 19-23, at a discount of around US$2-US$2.5 a barrel to dated Brent to Exxon Mobil, higher than the level seen last month, traders said. More details emerged for Santos' tender of a Pyrenees cargo loading Nov. 17-21. Trading house Petro Summit bought the cargo at a premium of above US$5 to dated Brent, traders said. November-loading Australian North West Shelf condensate has been traded at spot discounts to dated Brent, but further details were not yet clear.RUSSIAN CRUDE:Spot premiums for Russian ESPO Blend crude weakened to around 50 cents to Dubai quotes after Gazprom Neft sold a cargo, loading Nov. 3-13, at that level via a spot tender on Monday, likely to ChemChina, traders said, down from premiums of 80-90 cents a barrel seen in a Surgut tender last week. Gazprom Neft is selling one 1,000,000-barrel ESPO cargo, loading Nov. 19-29, via a tender on Tuesday. Rosneft will not issue spot tenders for ESPO crude this month due to tight supplies, traders said.REFINERYIndian Oil Corp (IOC), the country's largest refiner, is reviewing its refinery expansion plans because of a gradual rise in use of cleaner fuels and changing demand patterns in Asia's third-largest economy, its chairman said. Global oil refiners reeling from months of lackluster demand and an abundance of inventories are cutting fuel production into the autumn because the recovery in demand from the impact of coronavirus has stalled, according to executives, refinery workers and industry analysts. NEWSOPEC and its allies are watching efforts to resume oil output in Libya very closely, OPEC sources said on Monday, although producers should wait to see if there is a sustainable restart before reacting. India's crude oil imports declined in August, albeit at a slower pace, as soaring coronavirus cases continued to hit mobility and slowed economic recovery, government data showed on Monday. After extreme oil volatility that provided traders with bumper profits in the first half of the year, the market is now stuck in a lower gear, fatigued by the realities of COVID-19.