SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks Oman and Dubai slightly recovered on Wednesday after dropping for two straight sessions, while market participants continued to await the release of new official selling prices from Kuwait, Iraq and Qatar.
India's IOC is seeking west African crude loading over Nov. 1-10 in a tender closing and valid on Thursday.
Indonesia's Pertamina is seeking crude for delivery over November 16-30 and December 5-10 in a tender closing on Wednesday.
REFINERY
Japan's Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd finished maintenance at its Hokkaido refinery in northern Japan on Tuesday and will restart the 150,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) crude distillation unit (CDU) on Sept. 18, a company spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
NEWS
U.S. crude oil stockpiles were expected to fall for a seventh straight week, while refined product inventories also likely dropped last week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.
Oil producers in the top U.S. shale fields are stockpiling drilling permits on federal land ahead of the November U.S. presidential election, concerned that a win by Democratic candidate Joe Biden could lead to a clamp-down on oilfield activity.
The Sri Lankan navy said on Wednesday it had extinguished another fire on a stricken supertanker loaded with 2 million barrels of oil and is towing it to deeper water.
Oil and gas producer Kosmos Energy said on Wednesday it agreed to sell certain exploration assets in Africa and South America to a unit of Royal Dutch Shell for up to $200 million.
(Reporting By Shu Zhang) ((shu.zhang@thomsonreuters.com; +65-6870-3549; Reuters Messaging: Twitter @shuzhang4))
