SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks Oman and Dubai recovered on Thursday, as the bulk of Middle East and Russian grades continued to trade at multi-month highs, supported by firm demand and tighter arbitrage supplies in Asia.
Several refiners bought cargoes this week. China's Rongsheng may have bought 8 million to 9 million barrels of Murban, Das and Upper Zakum crude for September delivery. Thailand's IRPC purchased one August-loading cargo each of Das and probably another cargo of Qatar Marine, traders said.
Fuji Oil also bought 500,000 barrels of Murban at similar levels to ICE Murban futures, or just under $3 a barrel to Dubai quotes, they said.
Qatar Petroleum (QP) has set the term price for al-Shaheen crude loading in August at $2.57 a barrel above Dubai quotes, the highest premium in 17 months, according to trade sources and Reuters data.
QP set the term price after selling two cargoes via a tender to Shell and Mitsui at premiums between $2.20 and $2.60 a barrel, they said. These cargoes are to load on Aug. 7-8 and Aug. 28-29.
Spot premiums for Russian grades touched fresh multi-month highs.
Surgutneftegaz sold another three ESPO cargoes at $3.60-$3.70 a barrel above Dubai quotes via a second tender, about 5 cents higher than the previous tender, traders said.
Vitol and Mercuria bought the cargoes loading Aug. 7-14, 11-18 and 14-21.
Surgut will sell its remaining three cargoes for loading on Aug. 18-25, 22-29 and 25-31 via a tender closing later on Thursday.
ONGC Videsh sold a second cargo of Russian Sokol crude loading on Aug. 13-19 to PetroChina at $4.10 a barrel above Dubai quotes, a fresh 16-month high.
NEWS
U.S. crude oil stockpiles dropped sharply last week as refineries boosted operations to their highest since January 2020, signalling continued improvement in demand, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.
China is reshaping global shipping fuel markets by taking advantage of its booming maritime trade and massive refining capacity to undercut rivals from Singapore to South Korea and become the world's fastest-growing major marine fuel hub.
Oil prices are likely to be extremely volatile in the next few years, driven by supply constraints rather than demand as financing for new production evaporates in favour of renewables, U.S.-based Castleton Commodities International said.
Six oil and gas blocks worth more than 900 million barrels of oil in Indonesia are up for grabs, a senior government energy official said on Thursday.
(Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Rashmi Aich) ((Florence.Tan@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: florence.tan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
