SINGAPORE- Middle East crude market benchmarks Oman and Dubai held steady on Thursday, while trading for October-loading cargoes have gathered pace.
Iraq's Oil Marketing Company (SOMO) has sold 2 million barrels of September-loading Basra Light to Unipec at a premium of $1.26 a barrel to its official selling price (OSP) and 2 million barrels of September-loading Basra Heavy to Petro-Diamond at a premium of above $1.60 a barrel to its OSP, traders said.
Formosa has issued a tender to buy a 500,000-barrel cargo of Oman crude in a tender that will close on Aug. 16 and valid also until the same date.
Several October-loading Al-Shaheen cargoes have been sold prior to Qatar Petroleum's tender at premiums of about $2 a barrel to Dubai quotes, traders said, similar to levels seen in the previous month.
ASIA-PACIFIC CRUDE: Malaysia's Kimanis crude oil exports will return to normal levels of 11 cargoes per month in October, after exports dropped to nine cargoes in September due to a production issue, a preliminary loading programme showed on Thursday.
Australia's Santos plans to market a 300,000-barrel cargo of Van Gogh crude for loading between Oct. 4 and Oct. 8, down from 400,000 barrels normally due to a routine inspection of storage tanks on the floating production storage and offloading unit (FPSO), traders said.
Petroleum Brunei has issued a tender to sell 600,000 barrels of Kimanis crude for loading between Oct 27. and Oct. 31 in a tender that will close on Aug. 19.
NEWS
The U.S. Department of Justice has applied to seize the Iranian tanker Grace 1, which is being held in Gibraltar on suspicion of smuggling oil to Syria in breach of European Union sanctions, the British overseas territory said on Thursday.
U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose unexpectedly for a second week in row as refineries cut output last week, while fuel inventories posted surprise drawdowns with gasoline demand hitting a record high, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.
Russia's oil export duty is expected to fall to $90.7 per tonne in September from $94.1 per tonne in August following a decline in oil prices, the finance ministry said on Thursday.
Global commodity miner and trader Glencore on Wednesday lost its case to stop Australian tax authorities using business information that was leaked as part of the so-called Paradise Papers.
South Korea's oil imports from the United States and the United Arab Emirates jumped in July, with Iranian shipments remaining at zero for a third month due to U.S. sanctions, customs data showed on Thursday.
Foreign joint venture partners with Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA are concerned the latest set of U.S. sanctions on the South American country could disrupt their operations, three industry sources said.
(Reporting By Shu Zhang, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips) ((shu.zhang@thomsonreuters.com; +65-6870-3549; Reuters Messaging: shu.zhang.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net; Twitter @shuzhang4))
