SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks Oman and Dubai extended gains on Monday amid persistent concerns over tightening supplies.
However, industry observers said rising official selling prices (OSPs) from key producers to Asian buyer may limit demand for Middle East crude.
TotalEnergies, which was a dominant buyer of Dubai partials in the Platts window throughout most of January, continues to be an active seller of the Dubai partials since the start of the month.
MIDEAST OSP
Saudi Aramco has raised prices for all crude grades it sells to Asia in March from February, in line with market expectations.
The world's top oil exporter increased its March price for its Arab Light crude grade for Asian customers by 60 cents a barrel versus February to a premium of $2.80 a barrel to the Oman/Dubai average, Aramco said on Saturday.
Such a sizable price hike would prompt Asian refiners to try source crude from outside the Middle East region, JBC Energy said in a note on Monday.
The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) set the March official selling price (OSP) for its benchmark Murban crude at $85.11 a barrel, the company said on Saturday, compared to a February OSP of $74.36 a barrel.
The Oman differential to Dubai also slipped to two-session low of $3.97 a barrel, down from a more than 2-1/2-month high of $4.03 a barrel on Friday.
OIL DEAL
Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft said on Friday its new oil deal with China, which envisages supplies of 100 million tonnes of crude to China's CNPC through Kazakhstan over 10 years, was worth $80 billion.
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(Reporting by Roslan Khasawneh; editing by Uttaresh.V) ((roslan.khasawneh@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: roslan.khasawneh.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
