SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks Oman and Dubai dipped on Monday, and Iraqi, Abu Dhabi and Russian sour crude weakened.

Iraq's SOMO has sold 1 million barrels of Barsa Light crude, loading Aug 29-31, at a small premium of 1-9 cents a barrel to its official selling price (OSP) to China's Rongsheng via a spot tender, traders said.

Thailand's IRPC has bought September-loading Das and Qatar Marine crude via a spot tender, traders said. Das crude was priced at a discount of 60-70 cents a barrel to its OSP, they said.

Rongsheng is seeking September-loading crude in a tender closing on Tuesday.

Taiwan's CPC is seeking September-loading sour crude and October-delivery sweet crude in tenders closing on Tuesday and valid till Thursday.

 

RUSSIAN CRUDE:

Exxon Mobil Corp has sold three Russian Sokol crude cargoes loading in September at spot premiums of around $2.10 a barrel to Dubai quotes, traders said. 

Russian oil producer Surgutneftegaz has sold four September-loading cargoes of ESPO Blend crude at premiums of $1.30-$1.70 a barrel to Dubai quotes via its third spot tender this month, traders said. 

Glencore took three of the ESPO cargoes, which brings its monthly total to five, while Trafigura took one via the tender.

 

ASIA-PACIFIC CRUDE:

Vietnam's PV Oil has sold two cargoes of Su Tu Den crude, loading Sept 1-7 and Sept 8-14, at spot premiums of around $3.6-3.7 a barrel to dated Brent, trader said. The buyers were likely Shell and Unipec.

 

REFINERY

Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical Corp has slashed runs at its 540,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) Mailiao oil refinery to about 68%, down from 80%, following last week's shutdown of a secondary unit due to a fire, its spokesman said on Monday. 

It was unclear when the affected 80,000-bpd residue desulphuriser (RDS) will be able to resume operations as investigations are ongoing, said spokesman K.Y. Lin.

 

 

NEWS

BP has put four traders responsible for Chinese crude oil sales on temporary leave as it conducts internal investigations into trades with Singapore's Hontop Energy, four sources familiar with the matter said. 

Brazil increased crude exports to Asia in the first half of the year, stealing a slice of a coveted developing market from global rivals who made record cuts to shipments to match the unprecedented fall in demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic. 

Saudi Arabia's 84-year-old ruler, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, has been admitted to hospital in the capital Riyadh, suffering from inflammation of the gall bladder, state news agency SPA said on Monday. 

Oilfield services firm BJ Services filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection early on Monday, following a severe cut in demand and cash crunch due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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