SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks Oman and Dubai rose on Thursday, tracking surging global oil futures O/R , as traders await a meeting among major oil producers to decide on joint production cuts.

Saudi Arabia and Russia still need to resolve differences over plans for deep global oil production cuts, a Russian source and an OPEC source said on Thursday, hours before the start of talks between OPEC, Russia and others over efforts to prop up prices. 

Goldman Sachs said a 10 million barrel-per-day (bpd) cut by major producers would not be enough to improve global balances in a market reeling from a coronavirus-led demand collapse and a mounting supply glut. 

REFINERY

Asia Pacific oil refineries are finding that processing cuts are not keeping pace with sharp drops in fuel margins, which hit record lows this month.

 

 

NEWS

Oil producers led by Saudi Arabia and Russia meet on Thursday to try to agree a record output cut in response to a steep fall in prices as the spread of the coronavirus slashes demand.

Kuwait's oil minister said talks with countries attending an OPEC+ meeting are aimed at a cut of 10-15 million barrels per day, Kuwait's Al-Rai newspaper reported on Thursday.

U.S. crude oil stockpiles last week soared while fuel demand slumped, each by their most in one week ever, government data showed. 

Exxon Mobil, the largest U.S. oil producer, on Wednesday said it opposes Texas energy regulators' mandating any oil production cuts. 

State-run Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC) said on Thursday that it would increase strategic reserve crude oil and diesel purchases this year to 640,000 barrels from a planned 360,000 barrels.

India will divert 19 million barrels of Gulf oil from state-run firms to strategic petroleum reserves skipping direct purchases from producers to help refiners get rid of extra oil as their storage is full, three sources said. 

A group of Oklahoma oil producers plans to formally file a request calling on energy regulators in the fourth-largest U.S. oil-producing state to impose production curbs. 

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