SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks Oman and Dubai rose on Tuesday as trading activity picked up with more Asian refinery buying interests emerged.

The Brent/Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS) narrowed to 89 cents at Singapore market's close, from $1.04 a day earlier, Refinitiv data showed, indicating a relatively stronger Dubai.

In the spot market, Thailand's IRPC closed tenders to buy February-loading crude with bids valid till Wednesday.

China's Rongsheng closed a spot tender to buy February-loading crude with same-day validity, but result details are not yet clear.

Russia's Surgut will close a spot tender later on Tuesday to sell two ESPO crude cargoes, loading Jan. 31-Feb. 5 and Feb. 2-8.

 

ASIA PACIFIC CRUDE

Indonesia's Pertamina did not award a spot tender to buy condensate for late February, trade sources said.

Previously it bought a cargo of North West Shelf condensate from Shell for mid February delivery at an FOB-equivalent level of small discount or around flat to dated Brent, the sources said.

Vietnam's PV Oil awarded a Chim Sao crude cargo, loading Feb. 16-20, to domestic Binh son refinery at a premium of above $2 to dated Brent, traders said.

PV also awarded a 250,000-barrel Thang Long crude cargo, loading Feb. 2-5, to Exxon Mobil via a spot tender, traders said. The price level is not year clear.

PV offered a 400,000-barrel Dai Hung crude cargo, loading Feb. 20-26, via a spot tender closing on Friday with bids valid till Dec. 23.

 

REFINERY

Petron Corp, the Philippines' only oil refiner, said on Tuesday it would suspend operations at its 180,000-barrel-per-day Bataan refinery beginning next month to minimise losses from weak refining margins.

China's crude oil throughput in November rose 3.2% on year,setting a record high on a daily basis, as a huge private refiner started trials of a new refining unit and state-owned refineries raised processing rates to meet annual targets.

 

NEWS

The roll-out of vaccines this month to combat the coronavirus pandemic will not quickly reverse the destruction wrought on global oil demand, International Energy Agency (IEA) warned on Tuesday. 

Global oil demand will rebound more slowly in 2021 than previously thought because of the lingering impact of the coronavirus pandemic, OPEC said on Monday, hampering efforts by the group and its allies to support the market. 

India's oil imports from Africa and the United States rose sharply in November, while those from the from the Middle East and Latin America fell, data obtained from industry sources shows.

U.S. oil output from shale formations is expected to decline by about 136,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January to 7.44 million bpd, the lowest since June, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a monthly forecast on Monday.

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