SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks Oman and Dubai were mixed on Thursday, after top oil exporter Saudi Arabia cut the June official selling prices for all crude grades it sells to Asia.
It set the June OSP for the flagship Arab light crude at $1.7 a barrel above the Oman/Dubai average for Asia, down 10 cents from May and its first price cut since December last year.
India's IOC holds off issuing its usual weekly crude purchase tender for a second week, as a new COVID-19 wave hits local fuel demand.
ASIA-PACIFIC CRUDE:
Two cargoes of Australia's North West Shelf (NWS) condensate are scheduled to load in July, the same as June, a preliminary loading programme showed. The supply has been reduced due to a maintenance on LNG facility.
June-loading NWS condensate was traded at around $1 below dated Brent, traders said.
NEWS
U.S. crude oil stockpiles last week fell more sharply than expected as refining output rose and exports surged, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.
Commodities trader Gunvor Group posted a record $1.66 billion gross profit for 2020 even though revenue fell by a third as its trading desks profited from the unprecedented volatility in the oil market triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.
Hopes that India's deadly second wave of COVID-19 was about to peak were swept away on Thursday as it posted record daily infections and deaths and as the virus spread from cities to villages across the world's second-most populous nation.
(Reporting By Shu Zhang; Editing by Shailesh Kuber) ((shu.zhang@thomsonreuters.com; +65-6870-3549; Reuters Messaging: Twitter @shuzhang4))
