Weekly crude oil exports from the Middle East and North Africa were lower at 113.6 million barrel and 10.4 million barrel, respectively for the week ending October 30, 2022.

According to a Reuters poll of Asian refiners, Saudi Arabia may consider cutting December Official Selling Prices (OSPs) to Asia with expectations of lower demand from China could impact overall regional sentiment. Arab Light, the flagship grade, could see a cut of $0.3-0.4/bbl.

The UAE's energy minister on Monday said that the OPEC+ could be relied upon to meet global energy supply requirements and to balance the markets should the need arise. The comments were made during an industry event in Abu Dhabi.

Speaking at the same event, another UAE Minister and ADNOC group CEO Sultan Al-Jaber stressed the importance of investments in the exploration, pointing out that lack of investments and natural declines could knock off up to 5 million bpd of production per year from current supply levels.

Manufacturing data in China was bearish and reports of increasing Covid-19 preventive measures in the country cast dark clouds on demand.

The PMI in China is down from September’s 50.1 to a reported 49.2 in October. PMI numbers below 50 signal a contraction in activity. China has also intensified efforts to curb the spike in cases of Covid-19, due to the Omicron variant and this has added to concerns on demand in the country, a key demand center for oil.

Several industrial hubs identified isolation measures to prevent further spread of the virus and this is likely to dent transport and industrial demand.

Explosions were reported in two key Asian refiners - Taiwan CPC's Dalin refinery and Malaysian Pengerang refinery - petrochemical complex, a JV between Petronas and Saudi Aramco. The explosion occurred in the residue hydrotreater unit in the CPC refinery and the company's spokesperson claimed that the incident would have limited impact on the output. In the Pengerang Integrated Complex, the explosion is said to have occurred in a pipeline system. It may be noted that the facility was earlier shut for nearly 2 years following an explosion in 2020.

(Reporting by Sudharsan Sarathy; editing by Seban Scaria seban.scaria@lseg.com)