Middle East Crude-Benchmarks drop; US crude exports to China set to surge

SINGAPORE, March 17 (Reuters) - Middle Eastern crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban dropped on Friday as the market sentiment remains fragile after the banking crisis in the United States pilled over into a broader asset class. The spread between Brent- and Dubai-linked crude continued to narrow, pegging at $2.24 a barrel on Friday, which could encourage Asian refiners to seek barrels from further afield. 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.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS Cash Dubai's premium to swaps fell 17 cents to $1.69 a barrel.

Reliance will deliver one May-loading Upper Zakum cargo to PetroChina following the trade.
Seller-Buyer Price BP-PETROCHINA 74.95 BP-PETROCHINA 74.95 VITOL-TOTAL 74.90 BP-PETROCHINA 74.95 VITOL-PETROCHINA 74.95 BP-PETROCHINA 74.95 UNIPEC-PHILLIPS 66 74.85 BP-PETROCHINA 74.90 BP-PETROCHINA 74.90 RELIANCE-PETROCHINA 74.90 UNIPEC-PETROCHINA 74.90 PHILLIPS 66-TOTAL 74.85 PHILLIPS 66-TOTAL 74.85 BP-TOTAL 74.85 BP-PETROCHINA 74.89 PHILLIPS 66-TOTAL 74.80 BP-PETROCHINA 74.89 UNIPEC-PETROCHINA 74.85 RELIANCE-TOTAL 74.85 UNIPEC-TOTAL 74.85 RELIANCE-PETROCHINA 74.85

PRICES ($/BBL) CURRENT PREV SESSION DME OMAN 74.93 74.19 DME OMAN DIFF TO DUBAI 1.77 2.07 CASH DUBAI 74.85 73.98

NEWS Saudi Arabia's crude oil exports rose nearly 3% in January to a three-month high, data from the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI) showed on Thursday. Oil producers, banks and hedge funds have increased purchases of put options to protect themselves from further losses, market sources said this week, as crude futures hit their lowest level since December 2021 on concern that the rout in the banking industry could trigger a global recession and cut fuel demand. OPEC+ considers this week's slide in oil prices to a more than one-year low to be driven by financial fears, not any imbalance between demand and supply, and expects the market to stabilise, four delegates from the oil producer group told Reuters. Russia is not reaping the benefits of higher costs of some recent cargoes of crude oil bought by refiners in India priced above the price cap set by countries in the West and Australia, a U.S. official said on Thursday.

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 Janane Venkatraman)

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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

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Middle East Crude-Benchmarks drop; US crude exports to China set to surge

By Reuters

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