SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmark Dubai kicked off trade in the new year at similar levels to end-2018 after Shell bought three partials on Platts window.
CHINA: China issued its first batch of crude oil import quotas for 2019 on Wednesday at a lower volume than for the same batch a year ago though expectations are for the volumes to climb later this year.
The Ministry of Commerce granted quotas totalling 89.84 million tonnes to 58 companies in its first allowances for 2019, according to four sources with direct knowledge of the matter and documents reviewed by Reuters on Wednesday.
This is down from the 121.32 million tonnes issued in the first batch of allowances for 2018, although the sources said Beijing may increase the overall volume for 2019 in a second batch of quotas later this year.
ASIA-PACIFIC CRUDE: Malaysia's Petronas has set the official selling price of a basket of December-loading Malaysian crude oil grades at $62.79 a barrel, the lowest since October 2017.
The December price for its flagship Labuan was cut by $6.95 per barrel.
Brunei has cut November OSPs for Seria Light and Champion to $68.37 a barrel.
Indonesia's Pertamina has re-issued a tender seeking condensate for February delivery, while China's Fuhaichuang issued its monthly tender to buy condensate for March delivery.
The official selling price (OSP) for Oman crude in February will fall by $8.95 to $57.33 a barrel, Reuters calculations based on data from the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) showed on Monday.
The February OSP is the lowest since January 2018.
The Dubai crude OSP, set at a $0.20 per barrel discount to DME Oman, was calculated at $57.13 a barrel for February.
Dubai crude, as quoted by price-reporting agency S&P Global Platts, averaged $57.318 a barrel for December, the lowest since October 2017, two traders who participate in the market said.
REFINERY
India's biggest refiner Indian Oil Corp Ltd said on Wednesday that Iran may still invest in a refinery expansion project at one of its subsidiaries.
NEWS
Crude oil prices look likely to trade below $70 per barrel in 2019 as surplus production, much of it from the United States, and slowing economic growth undermine OPEC-led efforts to shore up the market, a Reuters poll showed.
India's finance ministry has exempted rupee payments made to the National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) for crude oil imports from a steep withholding tax, according to a government order reviewed by Reuters.
U.S. crude oil output hit an all-time high of more than 11.5 million barrels per day in October, according to government data released on Monday.
China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has appointed Zhang Wei as its general manager, the state-controlled oil and gas giant said in a statement.
Nigeria's crude oil production stood at 2.09 million barrels a day in 2018 compared with 1.86 million bpd the year before, the state oil firm said in a statement emailed on Wednesday.
Iraq's oil exports averaged 3.726 million barrels per day (bpd) in December, a significant increase from the previous month, the oil ministry said.
Exports from Iraq's southern Basra ports rose to a record high of 3.63 million bpd, up from 3.363 million bpd in November, the ministry said in a statement.
Medco Energi Internasional would boost its valuations and gain access to international assets if its potential takeover of London-listed Ophir Energy occurs, analysts said.
(Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu) ((Florence.Tan@thomsonreuters.com; +65 6870 3497; Reuters Messaging: florence.tan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
