SINGAPORE - Middle East crude oil benchmark Dubai slipped into a ‍discount against swaps ‍on Friday for the first time since December 2023 due ​to excess supply and low demand on the first day of trade for 2026, ⁠Reuters data showed on Friday.

The Dubai cash price was about $60.30 a barrel, or a discount ⁠of 13 cents ‌to Dubai swaps, with just two March-loading partials during the S&P Markets on Close price assessment process, according to trade sources ⁠and Reuters calculations.

The prompt January-February Dubai crude price spread flipped into contango of about 17-20 cents per barrel on Friday, sources said.

Prompt prices are lower than those in future months in a contango market, indicating ample supply.

Traders ⁠attributed the price weakness to ​unsold cargoes loading in February and a lack of interest to take on bullish positions this month.

In ‍the spot market, cash Dubai's premium to swaps have been falling since October amid abundant supplies. ​It averaged 62 cents in December, down from 88 cents in November, and is about half of October's average.

Supply pressure is building up due to output hikes from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners - a group known as OPEC+ - as well as rising production in the U.S. and other non-OPEC producers.

Eight OPEC+ members have paused oil output hikes for the first quarter of 2026 after releasing some 2.9 million barrels per day into the market since ⁠April 2025.

Meanwhile, a flood of sanctioned barrels ‌heading for Asia, the world's biggest oil consumer, weighed on the Middle Eastern market.

And India's resilient imports of cheap Russian oil also dented hopes that they would ‌switch to ⁠buy more oil from the Middle East and elsewhere.

(Reporting by Siyi Liu and Florence ⁠Tan in Singapore; Editing by David Goodman and Susan Fenton)