off-the-wire

Middle East Crude-Benchmarks fall; China's March oil throughput hits record high

Kitco Media
By Reuters
Published:
Updated:
Reuters
SINGAPORE, April 18 (Reuters) - Middle East crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban dropped on Tuesday, despite the record high oil processing volume in China last month signalling a healthy oil demand in the world's biggest crude importer. The falling premiums follow the sluggish refining margins which has fallen to $2.8 a barrel from $9.27 a barrel three weeks ago. Chinese oil refinery throughput surged to a record in March, data showed, as refiners stepped up runs to capture strong export demand and build up inventories ahead of planned maintenance. Total refinery throughput reached 63.9 million tonnes, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed, equivalent to 14.9 million barrels per day (bpd). That was up 8.8% from a year earlier.


RUSSIAN OIL The Group of Seven (G7) coalition will keep a $60 per barrel price cap on seaborne Russian oil, a coalition official said, despite rising global crude prices and calls by some countries for a lower price cap to restrict Moscow's revenues. SINGAPORE CASH DEALS


Cash Dubai's premium to swaps fell 4 cents to $1.91 a barrel.
Seller-Buyer Price PETROCHINA-VITOL 84.50 PETROCHINA-GLENCORE 84.50 PETROCHINA-GUNVOR 84.40 EXXONMOBIL-VITOL 84.65 EXXONMOBIL-VITOL 84.65


PRICES ($/BBL) CURRENT PREV SESSION DME OMAN 84.67 86.01 DME OMAN DIFF TO DUBAI 1.93 2.06 CASH DUBAI 84.65 85.90


NEWS Operations at the Njord A oil and gas platform in the Norwegian Sea will resume at normal levels on Tuesday after being halted because of an oil leak, a spokesperson for operator Equinor said. A commitment from the Group of Seven wealthy countries to phase out fossil fuels faster has been welcomed as a potential step towards a global deal for all countries to do the same, but is facing criticism for not matching the pledge with firm action. U.S. crude oil and product inventories likely fell last week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday. Brazil's oil and gas production plunged 11.95% in March to 3.68 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), from a record high of 4.183 million boed in February, regulator ANP said on Monday.


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Fuel oil crack Gasoil crack Naphtha crack Complex refining margins (Reporting by Muyu Xu; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)


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