SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks Oman and Dubai eased on Wednesday as traders eyed a purchase tender by Chinese trader Rongsheng after it snapped up large volumes last month.
Rongsheng was due to award the tender late on Wednesday and it may have bought Murban and Basra crude, traders said.
Large purchases by the trading arm of refiner Zhejiang Petrochemical supported Asia's crude markets last month.
Separately, Qatar Petroleum sold al-Shaheen crude at an average premium of 75 cents a barrel to Dubai quotes, they said, the highest premiums in four months and up from an average discount of 46 cents in the previous month.
Japanese refiner ENEOS has likely bought one of the cargoes which will load on Jan. 2-3 and Jan. 23-24, the sources said.
QP set the grade's monthly term price at 78 cents a barrel after the tender.
QP also sold January-loading Qatar Marine and Land crude at 20-30 cents a barrel above their respective official selling prices (OSPs), a trader said.
Iraq's Basra Light and Heavy crude have also traded at strong premiums of about $1.50 a barrel to their respective OSPs as supplies have tightened after SOMO reduced allocations to term buyers, traders said.
For Russian ESPO crude, spot premiums continued to climb as Surgutneftegaz sold another two January-loading cargoes at $2.80-$2.90 a barrel above Dubai quotes likely to Gunvor, traders said.
Tenergy has also sold at least one cargo at $2.70-$2.80 a barrel, they said.
Surgut has issued a third tender to sell cargoes loading on Jan. 14-21 and Jan. 18-25, which will close later on Wednesday.
China's commercial oil stockpiling sector, which emerged as a key swing buyer of crude as prices plunged earlier this year, is setting plans to grow again in 2021, supporting a further boost in imports.
Saudi Arabia called on fellow OPEC+ members on Tuesday to be flexible in responding to oil market needs as it builds the case for a tighter oil production policy in 2021 to tackle weaker demand amid a new wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
Norwegian oil major Equinor will raise the output capacity at its Johan Sverdrup field by 30,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 500,000 bpd by the end of 2020, and plans a further increase next year, it said on Wednesday.
The Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE) is considering using oil storage sites in Singapore owned by PetroChina Co as a delivery point for its low-sulphur fuel oil futures contract, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
Hengli Oilchem, the trading arm of Chinese chemicals producer Hengli Group, has hired senior trader Su Yang to trade crude oil in Singapore, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.
(Reporting by Florence Tan; editing by Uttaresh.V) ((Florence.Tan@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: florence.tan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))il outright prices 0#C-A ))
