SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks Oman and Dubai on Tuesday fell for a second straight session on weak refining margins, after another key producer Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) cut October crude prices for buyers.

ADNOC has set the October official selling price (OSP) for its benchmark Murban crude at minus $0.50 per barrel to Platts Dubai, lowering it by $1.35 from the previous month, a pricing document showed on Tuesday.

ADNOC's move followed top oil exporter Saudi Aramco, which a few days earlier reduced the October OSPs for its Arab Light crude oil to all destinations. 

 

REFINERY

Japan's Cosmo Oil, a unit of Cosmo Energy Holdings Co Ltd 5021.T , shut down the 100,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) sole crude distillation unit (CDU) at the Sakai refinery in western Japan on Sept. 3 for planned maintenance, a company spokesman said on Tuesday.

Japan's biggest refiner, Eneos Corp, restarted the 65,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) No.3 crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Kawasaki refinery, near Tokyo, on Sept. 5 after it was suspended on March 16 for scheduled maintenance, a company spokesman said on Tuesday.

 

 

NEWS

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said it was "extremely important" for Russia and other oil producers to quickly regain, or even raise, their market share once the demand recovers, according to a ministry's inhouse magazine published on Tuesday. 

Trading firms enjoyed an unprecedented boom in the first half of 2020 due to extreme volatility caused by the COVID-19 pandemic but the market's direction now looks less certain due to high stocks and tepid demand recovery. 

Two affiliates of Libya's National Oil Corp (NOC) have suspended some work because of the spread of the coronavirus, they said in statements posted online on Monday. 

Sri Lanka has "better control" over a fresh fire on a loaded supertanker off the island nation and is looking for any signs of potential oil leaks from the ship.

Ill-timed bets on rising demand have Exxon Mobil Corp facing a shortfall of about $48 billion through 2021, according to a Reuters tally and Wall Street estimates, a situation that will require the top U.S. oil company to make deep cuts to its staff and projects. 

(Reporting By Shu Zhang; Editing by Shailesh Kuber) ((shu.zhang@thomsonreuters.com; +65-6870-3549; Reuters Messaging: Twitter @shuzhang4))