Middle East Crude-Benchmarks fall; China issues 2nd batch fuel export quotas

Kitco Media
By Reuters
Published:
Updated:
Reuters
SINGAPORE, May 11 (Reuters) - Middle East crude benchmarks fell for a third session on Thursday, with Dubai sliding to a two-week low, as China issued a new batch of fuel export quotas, suggesting more refined products will flood the market and weigh on refining margins. China has decreased its second batch of export quota volumes for refined oil products, consultancies and trader sources said, focusing on local demand during the refinery overhaul season and boosting domestic sales amid poor export margins. The export volumes, comprising 9 million tonnes of refined products and 3 million tonnes of marine fuel, were allotted primarily to state-owned refiners, according to two refining sources and consultancies Longzhong and JLC. Meanwhile, Unipec bought 1 million barrels of Qayyarah crude, according to Iraq Oil Report. But the loading period of the cargo is not known. The 33,000 barrels-per-day Al-Qayyarah oilfield in Iraq recently resumed production and export operations.


OSP Kuwait slashed the official selling price (OSP) for Kuwait Export Crude (KEC) to Asia in June by 70 U.S. cents from the previous month to $1.70 a barrel above the average of Oman/Dubai quotes, a price document reviewed by Reuters showed on Thursday. The producer set the June Kuwait Super Light Crude (KSLC) OSP at $1.80 a barrel above Oman/Dubai quotes, 70 cents lower than the previous month.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS Cash Dubai's premium to swaps dropped 27 cents to $1.06 a barrel.
Seller-Buyer Price VITOL-PETROCHINA 76.40 VITOL-TRAFIGURA 76.40 VITOL-SHELL 76.40 VITOL-PETROCHINA 76.30 VITOL-TOTAL 76.25 VITOL-PETROCHINA 76.20 GLENCORE-PETROCHINA 76.20 EXXONMOBIL-SHELL 76.19 EXXONMOBIL-TOTAL 76.19 EXXONMOBIL-PETROCHINA 76.19 EXXONMOBIL-TOTAL 76.19 GUNVOR-PETROCHINA 76.19 GUNVOR-SHELL 76.19 EXXONMOBIL-TOTAL 76.19 EXXONMOBIL-PETROCHINA 76.20 GLENCORE-SHELL 76.19 RELIANCE-TOTAL 76.19 VITOL-PETROCHINA 76.20 GUNVOR-TRAFIGURA 76.19 GUNVOR-SHELL 76.19 BP-PETROCHINA 76.20


PRICES ($/BBL) CURRENT PREV SESSION DME OMAN 76.18 75.63 DME OMAN DIFF TO DUBAI 1.05 1.21 CASH DUBAI 76.19 75.75


NEWS A number of oil and gas companies in Canada's main crude-producing province Alberta restarted shuttered production on Wednesday as wildfires that sparked widespread evacuations eased, although officials warned conditions could deteriorate. China has dramatically increased use of the yuan to buy Russian commodities over the past year, with nearly all of its purchases of oil, coal and some metals from its neighbour now settled in the Chinese currency instead of dollars, multiple trading executives with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Colombia's majority state-owned energy company Ecopetrol will be more aggressive in exploring for oil under existing contracts, Chief Executive Ricardo Roa said on Wednesday, as the company warned external factors including weather and security issues could hit production. Inventories of middle distillates in storage at key trading hub Singapore edged lower as gasoil imports fell week on week, official data showed 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 Subhranshu Sahu)


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