Middle East Crude-Oman, Murban rise; Kuwait asks Asian refiners to take less crude

SINGAPORE, March 16 (Reuters) - Middle Eastern crude benchmarks Oman and Murban rose on Thursday as the market angst over a wide-range financial crisis eased and the prospect of solid demand in the region helped shore up the prices. Kuwait has asked some Asian refiners to take less oil under their annual deals as the OPEC producer hopes to start full-scale operations at its Al Zour refinery later this year, three refining sources familiar with the matter said. The reduction of Kuwait crude exports would prompt refiners to seek for alternative supplies from the market. Qatar Energy set the term price for May al-Shaheen crude at a premium of about $2.01 a barrel above Dubai quotes, down from about $2.58 a barrel in the previous month, trading sources said on Thursday. The term price was decided following the sale of four cargoes of May-loading al-Shaheen crude via tenders which closed this week. All four cargoes were likely sold to Total at a premium of about $2 a barrel over Dubai quotes, they said.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS Cash Dubai's premium to swaps dipped 5 cents to $1.86 a barrel.

Unipec will deliver one May-loading al-Shaheen cargo to Total following the trade. Phillips 66 will deliver one May-loading Upper Zakum cargo to PetroChina. Seller-Buyer Price UNIPEC-PETROCHINA 73.75 UNIPEC-TOTAL 73.75 UNIPEC-TOTAL 74.00 RELIANCE-PETROCHINA 73.95 BP-PETROCHINA 74.00 PHILLIPS 66-PETROCHINA 74.00 EXXONMOBIL-PETROCHINA 74.00 VITOL-PETROCHINA 74.00 RELIANCE-PETROCHINA 74.00 BP-TOTAL 74.00 PHILLIPS 66-PETROCHINA 74.00 EXXONMOBIL-PETROCHINA 74.00 BP-TOTAL 74.00 VITOL-PETROCHINA 74.00 RELIANCE-PETROCHINA 74.00 RELIANCE-PETROCHINA 73.90 PHILLIPS 66-PETROCHINA 74.00 EXXONMOBIL-TOTAL 74.00 RELIANCE-PETROCHINA 74.00 PHILLIPS 66-PETROCHINA 74.00 EXXONMOBIL-TOTAL 74.00 UNIPEC-TOTAL 74.00 BP-PETROCHINA 74.00 RELIANCE-PETROCHINA 74.00 EXXONMOBIL-TOTAL 74.00 PHILLIPS 66-PETROCHINA 74.00 BP-PETROCHINA 74.00 RELIANCE-PETROCHINA 74.00 UNIPEC-PETROCHINA 74.00 KOCH-PETROCHINA 74.05 RELIANCE-PETROCHINA 74.04 VITOL-PETROCHINA 74.05 EXXONMOBIL-PETROCHINA 74.05 BP-PETROCHINA 74.05 UNIPEC-PETROCHINA 74.05 KOCH-PETROCHINA 74.05 PHILLIPS 66-TOTAL 74.00 PHILLIPS 66-TOTAL 74.00 PHILLIPS 66-TOTAL 74.00 VITOL-PETROCHINA 74.00 PHILLIPS 66-TOTAL 73.99 PHILLIPS 66-TOTAL 73.98

PRICES ($/BBL) CURRENT PREV SESSION DME OMAN 74.19 77.92 DME OMAN DIFF TO DUBAI 2.07 1.99 CASH DUBAI 73.98 77.84

NEWS U.S. crude exports to China in March are headed for their highest in nearly two-and-half-years, spurred by a recovery in demand and competitive prices compared with Middle East supplies. Group of Seven countries want to keep the price cap on Russian crude at $60 a barrel, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Marine fuel sales at the world's third-largest bunkering hub of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates fell to record lows in February, based on the latest Fujairah Oil Industry Zone data, which started being published in 2021.

For crude prices, oil product cracks and refining margins, please click on the RICs below.
Brent Dubai DME Oman Brent/Dubai EFS PRODUCT CRACKS
Fuel oil crack Gasoil crack Naphtha crack Complex refining margins (Reporting by Muyu Xu; editing by Uttaresh Venkateshwaran)

Asia Europe Americas CRUDE OIL MARKET NEWS
Crude oil tenders in Asia Crude oil supply outages in Asia Refinery outages in Asia Global arbitrage news and flows W.African crude imports to Asia, monthly REFINERY MAINTENANCE DIARIES
Asia Middle East Europe NATIONAL CRUDE IMPORT DATA
Japan China India S.Korea Indonesia CRUDE OIL INVENTORY DATA
Japan US Europe CRUDE OIL PRODUCTION/OILFIELD NEWS
OPEC output survey New Africa fields New projects New Americas fields CRUDE OIL MARKET REPORTS
Middle East Asia-Pacific West Africa North Sea Asia outlook Europe outlook Global futures report Technicals report PRICES
For all Official Selling Prices For a POLL on oil prices NYMEX and ICE oil futures TOCOM crude oil futures Dubai, Oman swaps and spread Middle East physical crude diffs Australia physical crude, Tapis swaps Asia-Pacific physical crude All Asian crude oil differentials All Asian crude oil outright prices ))

Reuters

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.

off-the-wire

Middle East Crude-Oman, Murban rise; Kuwait asks Asian refiners to take less crude

By Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Gold is never going back to $2,000: 'That's history,' prices to 3x from here – Peter Schiff

‘Biggest economic shift since Nixon’: Major U.S. monetary policy changes coming in 12-36 months – Jack Mallers

Solid price gains for gold, silver after busy news weekend

India joins South Africa in denying BRICS currency plans after Trump’s 100% tariff threat

Silver prices breach $32/oz as bullish technicals and fundamentals suggest potential breakout