SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks Oman and Dubai rose on Monday, tracking global oil futures O/R, on expectations OPEC and allied producers may cap output at current levels in February.
Most OPEC+ countries would like to postpone a planned increase in oil output from February due to weakening fuel demand amid new global lockdowns to stop the spread of the coronavirus, three OPEC+ sources said on Monday.
Dubai, as quoted by price-reporting agency S&P Global Platts, rose for a second straight month in December to an average of $49.815 a barrel, the highest since February, two market participants said on Monday.
RUSSIAN CRUDE:
ONGC offered a cargo of Russian Sokol crude, loading March 1-7, via a spot tender to be closed on Friday with same-day validity.
ASIA-PACIFIC CRUDE:
The official selling price (OSP) of a basket of December-loading Malaysian crude oil grades OSP/MY has been set at $50.66 a barrel, state oil company Petronas said in a pricing document on Monday.
The December price for flagship Labuan crude rose by $8 a barrel from $42.66 in November.
NEWS
Oil prices are unlikely to mount much of a recovery in 2021 as a new coronavirus variant and related travel restrictions threaten already weak fuel demand, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday.
Oil production in Russia declined last year for the first time since 2008 and reached its lowest level since 2011 following a global deal to cut output and sluggish demand caused by the coronavirus, statistics showed on Saturday.
U.S. crude oil production was down more than 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in October from earlier this year, as weak prices and tepid demand due to the coronavirus pandemic weighed on output, a government report showed on Thursday.
(Reporting By Shu Zhang; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli) ((shu.zhang@thomsonreuters.com; +65-6870-3549; Reuters Messaging: Twitter @shuzhang4))
