SINGAPORE- The Middle East crude benchmarks were little changed on Thursday as traders eyed tenders from Taiwan.

More spot trade is expected as Taiwanese refiners Formosa and CPC have closed tenders to buy sour crude loading in August.

BAPCO has awarded its Banoco Arab Medium crude loading in August to Shell, a trader said, although this could not be confirmed. The price was not immediately known.

RUSSIA: Spot premiums for Russian Sakhalin Blend crude are at their lowest this year after the margins for producing naphtha hit a two-month trough, trade sources said. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1TN2UO

Sakhalin Energy has sold five cargoes loading in September to October at $2.80-$3.20 a barrel above Dubai quotes, they said, down from $3.70-$3.80 last month.

Cargoes loading between Sept. 5 and Sept. 11 and Sept. 20-26 were sold to term buyers from Japan and South Korea, while cargoes loading on Sept. 12-18, Sept. 27-Oct. 3, Oct. 3-9 were sold on spot basis to buyers from South Korea and China.

Separately, ONGC has sold a Sokol cargo loading on Aug. 18-24 to SK Energy at $4.70 a barrel above Dubai quotes. This was likely the highest premium fetched for this grade this month.

 

NEWS

Iran signalled on Wednesday it could compromise on a small increase in OPEC oil output when the group meets this week, as Saudi Arabia scrambled to convince fellow members of the need for a larger rise in production. 

Oil markets are bracing for a reshuffle of global trade flows as China threatens to impose tit-for-tat tariffs on imports of U.S. energy products, including crude. 

OPEC, which has lost Chinese market share to U.S. oil producers, should in theory view a tariff spat between Beijing and Washington as a boon. But while OPEC can sell more oil to China as a result of import tariffs on U.S. crude, in the long term the trade dispute could hit economic growth and oil demand, OPEC officials and oil executives said.

Venezuelan PDVSA's daily oil exports were 32 percent lower in the first half of June than in May, according to internal trade reports from the state-run company, as deepening output declines and seizures of some Caribbean assets disrupted crude and fuel shipments. 

Nexen Energy, a unit of China's CNOOC Ltd, said on Wednesday that it would move ahead with the construction of its C$400 million ($300.5 million) Long Lake Southwest expansion project in northern Alberta.

(Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Jan Harvey) ((Florence.Tan@thomsonreuters.com; +65 6870 3497; Reuters Messaging: florence.tan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))