SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks Oman and Dubai fell 20 cents on Wednesday due to weak demand, even after top oil exporter Saudi Arabia's supply cuts for some term buyers in Asia.

Two North Asian refiners have received a 10% supply cut from the state-owned energy giant Saudi Aramco, while February allocations for at least three Indian refiners have been cut between 15% and 26%, sources told Reuters. 

Aramco, however, met requirements of at least four other Asian refiners, sources said.

This comes after Saudi Arabia pledged additional voluntary output cuts of 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in February and March.

In the spot market, Eni was heard to have sold March-loading Das crude to Japanese refiner Cosmo at a small single-digit premium to OSP.

During the market-on-close price assessment, Total offered a Murban cargo, loading Mar. 1-25, at a discount of 10 cents to OSP, but did not attract any buyers.

Vitol bid a Upper Zakum cargo, loading Mar. 1-31, at a premium of 15 cents to Dubai quotes, but did not attract any sellers.

 

NEWS

Japan's Sumitomo Corp plans to close by April its crude and fuel oil trading desks in Singapore and relocate these trading functions back to Tokyo headquarters, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday. 

OPEC+ compliance with pledged oil output curbs fell to 75% in December, among the lowest levels since the supply pact started in May 2020, tanker tracker Petro-Logistics said on Tuesday. 

U.S. crude oil production is expected to fall by 190,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 to 11.1 million bpd, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Tuesday, a smaller decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 240,000 bpd.

Chevron is reviewing political donations after last week's violent invasion of the U.S. capitol, Chief Executive Mike Wirth said on Tuesday while speaking at the Reuters Next conference. 

Almost one in three workers in the oil and gas industry faced pay cuts in 2020, a worldwide survey showed on Tuesday, as the coronavirus crisis drove down fuel demand and prices. 

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