SINGAPORE - Middle East crude benchmarks Oman and Dubai rose for a second session on Thursday, while Russian Sokol crude's spot premium climbed to its highest in two months.

Indian explorer ONGC Videsh sold a Sokol crude cargo for Nov. 5-11 loading to Mitsui at $3.80 a barrel above Dubai quotes, traders said. The premium was about $1 a barrel higher than the last trade for October-loading cargo which fetched a premium of $2.85 a barrel. 

The rebound in Sokol's premium has also supported prices for light sour grades such as Murban. ICE Murban's premium to Dubai swaps rose 15 cents to $2.20 a barrel at Thursday's close.

REFINERY

Chemical producer LyondellBasell Industries NV aims to sell its Houston crude oil refinery as quickly as possible, said people familiar with the matter. 

 

NEWS

More than three-quarters of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico's offshore oil and natural gas output remained shut on Wednesday as the fallout from Hurricane Ida continued to hamper production. 

U.S. crude oil production is expected to fall by 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 to 11.08 million bpd, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, noting that Hurricane Ida should force a bigger decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 160,000 bpd. 

India's fuel demand rose 10.9% in August compared with the same month last year. 

International trading firm Vitol and Azerbaijan's state SOCAR have agreed to transport Turkmen oil volumes via Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline which will result in a sharp decline of transit shipments via Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, three sources said on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Aditya Soni) ((Florence.Tan@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: florence.tan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))