SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks, Oman and Dubai, were mixed on Monday as market participants awaited the release of new monthly official selling prices (OSPs) over the coming days.

Dubai, as quoted by price-reporting agency S&P Global Platts, rose in July to an average of $43.278 a barrel, the highest since February. 

The OSP for Oman crude in September will rise by $2.04 to $43.62 a barrel, Reuters calculations based on data from the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) showed.

Platts Oman/Dubai average $43.334 $40.818 $2.517 Platts Dubai/DME Oman average $43.447 $41.186 $2.261

Oman has notified all of its crude oil term customers of a cut of about 20% in their allocations for October 2020. 

 

ASIA-PACIFIC CRUDE:

The OSP of a basket of July-loading Malaysian crude oil grades has been increased to $45.30 a barrel. 

The July price for flagship Labuan was raised by $9.43 per barrel from $35.87 for June.

Indonesia's Pertamina closed a tender seeking condensate cargoes for October delivery, with bids valid till Wednesday.

REFINERY

Indian Oil Corp, the country's top refiner, will continue to operate its refineries below capacity in 2020/21 as it sees local and overseas fuel demand remaining subdued, IOC Chairman S. M. Vaidya said on Friday. 

 

NEWS

Russian oil and gas condensate output increased to 9.8 million barrels per day (bpd) on Aug. 1-2 from 9.37 million bpd in July as the country eases production curbs under an OPEC+ deal, a source familiar with data said on Monday. 

Indonesia announced over the weekend that it had made revisions to a 2017 law that will give oil and gas investors more flexibility when choosing their contract options for exploration. 

Syria's foreign ministry said on Sunday that an American oil company had signed an agreement with Kurdish-led rebels who control northeastern oilfields in what it described as an illegal deal aimed at "stealing" Syria's crude. 

China's commerce ministry granted crude oil imports licences to three Shandong-based companies in eastern China, according to a statement on Friday.

South Korea's July crude oil imports slid 2.1% to 84.5 million barrels from a year earlier, preliminary data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy showed on Saturday.

(Reporting By Shu Zhang; editing by Uttaresh.V) ((shu.zhang@thomsonreuters.com; +65-6870-3549; Reuters Messaging: Twitter @shuzhang4))