SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks Oman and Dubai rose on Monday, as spot premiums for Russian Sokol crude strengthened further to hit a fresh 7-month high.

Dubai, as quoted by price-reporting agency S&P Global Platts, rose in February to an average of $60.855 a barrel, the highest since January 2020.

The monthly averages for February for Dubai and Oman as quoted by Platts are indicated in the table. CRUDE FEB JAN CHANGE Platts Dubai $60.855 $54.772 $6.083 Platts Oman $60.923 $54.786 $6.137 Platts Oman/Dubai average $60.889 $54.779 $6.110

Platts Dubai/DME Oman average $60.854 $54.781 $6.073

RUSSIAN CRUDE:

Indian explorer ONGC Videsh sold a Sokol crude cargo, loading April 27-May 3, at around $2.5-$2.6 a barrel above April Dubai quotes to Petraco via a tender awarded last Friday, traders said. 

Russia's ESPO Blend crude oil exports from the Far East port of Kozmino were set at 2.82 million tonnes for April, according to a preliminary schedule.

The March ESPO crude export volume was revised up to 2.8 million tonnes in an updated schedule, from 2.74 million tonnes in the preliminary plan.

 

REFINERY

Indian Oil Corp will invest 329.46 billion rupees ($4.46 billion) to raise the capacity of its Panipat refinery by two-thirds to 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) by September 2024, the country's top refiner said on Friday. 

 

NEWS

Oil prices rebounded more than $1 on Monday after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a huge stimulus package, although a slowdown in China's February factory activity growth capped gains. 

South Korea's February crude oil imports fell 14.7% to 73.6 million barrels from a year earlier, preliminary data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy showed on Monday. 

Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took the stage at the world's largest energy conference in 2019 to declare an age of U.S. dominance after a decade of rapid shale development made the United States the world's top oil and gas producer.

Saudi Aramco has asked banks to extend by a year a $10 billion loan it raised last May, two sources familiar with the matter said, suggesting that rebounding crude prices are not pushing the oil giant to reduce debt for the time being. 

(Reporting by Shu Zhang; Editing by Shailesh Kuber) ((shu.zhang@thomsonreuters.com; +65-6870-3549; Reuters Messaging: Twitter @shuzhang4))