SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks stayed firm on Monday, the first day of trading this month, after Saudi Aramco raised official selling prices for July.

DME Oman's premium to Dubai quotes was at $2.44 a barrel while cash Dubai's premium to swaps was at $2.20 a barrel, supported by Shell's purchases on Platts window.

OSPs: Saudi Aramco has raised its July price for its Arab Light grade for Asian customers by $0.60 a barrel versus June to a premium of $2.70 per barrel to the Oman/Dubai average. 

The OSPs for Arab Extra Light and Arab Medium crude rose by 50 cents while Arab Heavy OSP was up 60 cents.

The price hikes were lower than expected.

Traders said Saudi Aramco may have taken into account weaker refining margins, a sharp drop in Dubai benchmark at the end of last month and to compensate for a wider price spread between DME Oman and Dubai.

ADNOC on Sunday said it had set the May retroactive selling price for its benchmark Murban crude at $72.35 a barrel, down from $73.05 the month before. 

This puts Murban's May OSP premium to Dubai quotes at $2.97 a barrel, up 87 cents from the previous month and the highest level since September.

ADNOC also raised the OSP premiums to Dubai quotes for other Abu Dhabi light crudes Umm Lulu and Das by 98 cents and 92 cents a barrel, respectively.

Medium-sour grade Upper Zakum's OSP premium rose by 78 cents a barrel from the previous month.

The price hikes tracked the higher-end of spot deals seen last month.

 

ASIA-PACIFIC CRUDE: Malaysia has cut the OSP of a basket of May-loading Malaysian crude oil grades to $76.52 a barrel, Petronas said on Monday. 

The May price for the basket of Malaysian crude oil, which includes Labuan, Miri Light, Kikeh and Kimanis Blend, fell by $0.24 a barrel from the previous month.

Brunei has raised the April OSP for Seria Light crude to $75.36 a barrel and Champion crude to $75.41.

ARBITRAGE: African crude oil sales into China, the world's biggest importer, have stalled as buyers wait for spot sale offers from top supplier Angola to fall in line with slumping benchmark prices, refining and trading sources said.

 

PRICES ($/BBL)

Dubai crude, as quoted by price-reporting agency S&P Global Platts, fell in May to an average of $69.375 a barrel, the lowest in two months, a trader who participate in the market said. 

 

TENDERS

ONGC offered a Russian Sokol crude cargo loading on Aug. 8-13 in a tender to close on June 6.

 

NEWS

U.S. military vessels in the Gulf are within range of Iranian missiles, a top military aide to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday, warning any clash between the two countries would push oil prices above $100 a barrel. 

U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to tax Mexican imports could disrupt a long-standing cross-border energy trade, hitting U.S. consumers and refiners that use Mexican oil by boosting prices, and raising concerns about potential retaliation by the world's biggest buyer of U.S. energy products. 

Russian oil output fell to 11.11 million barrels per day (bpd) in May, its lowest level since June 2018, from 11.23 million bpd in April, Energy Ministry data showed on Sunday. 

Polish and German refineries have reached a preliminary agreement to process contaminated oil sent from Russia last month, which still sits in pipelines from Belarus, sources familiar with the situation said. 

Brent crude prices are likely to hold near $70 a barrel in the remainder of the year as elevated supply risks in the Middle East offset risks to demand from the U.S.-China trade spat, a Reuters survey showed on Friday. 

Glencore's long-serving head of oil, Alex Beard, who helped make the firm one of the world's top three oil trading houses, will retire this month, the company said on Monday as it faces mounting U.S. probes into its activities.

(Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Rashmi Aich) ((Florence.Tan@thomsonreuters.com; +65 6870 3497; Reuters Messaging: florence.tan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))