SINGAPORE- Differentials for Middle East crude benchmarks Oman and Dubai were mixed on Monday, while Asia's spot premiums for December-loading Russian ESPO Blend crude declined in the latest trade after hitting record highs.

ASIA-PACIFIC CRUDE:

Russia's Rosneft has offered four 740,000-barrel cargoes of ESPO crude in a tender closing on Oct. 21, with bids valid till Oct. 24. The loading dates are Dec. 1-6, 6-11, 11-16 and 21-26.

Russia's Surgutneftegaz has sold another four cargoes of December-loading ESPO Blend crude at lower premiums of $7.50-$8.60 a barrel to Dubai quotes via its third spot tender on Friday. Glencore, Shell and Vitol were likely buyers of the cargoes. 

Australia's Santos has sold a cargo of December-loading Cooper Basin crude at a premium of around $8.00-8.50 a barrel to dated Brent via a spot tender, traders said. The buyer was likely trading house Vitol.

 

NEWS

Documents from Saudi Aramco show the world's largest oil firm earns only a limited proportion of its profit from foreign refining ventures, an area in which it plans major investment.

OPEC members Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are still in talks about restarting oil production from the jointly-operated fields in the Neutral Zone and negotiations are "very positive", Kuwait's deputy foreign minister said on Saturday.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he would nominate Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, a former vice president of Ford Motor Co and Louisiana state energy regulator, to head the department.

Russia produced more oil in September than envisaged by a global deal due to an increase in gas condensate output as the country prepared for winter, local news agencies reported on Sunday.

U.S. energy firms this week increased the number of oil rigs operating for a second week in a row for the first time since June even as producers plan to reduce spending on new drilling this year.

(Reporting By Shu Zhang; Editing by Edmund Blair) ((shu.zhang@thomsonreuters.com; +65-6870-3549; Reuters Messaging: shu.zhang.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net; Twitter @shuzhang4))