Middle East crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban rose on Monday after Saudi Arabia raised December official selling prices (OSPs) more than expected.

On Saturday, Saudi Aramco hiked the OSP for Arab Light crude by $1.40 to $2.70 a barrel above the average of Platts Dubai and DME Oman prices in December, its highest level since September.

This far exceeds a hike of 30-90 cents a barrel forecast for Arab Light in a Reuters survey on Oct. 29.

The OSPs for lighter grades - Arab Super Light and Arab Extra Light, which yield more of those two products - rose by more than $2 a barrel in December.

Saudi Aramco also hiked OSPs for heavier grades by more than $1 a barrel despite weaker fuel oil margins. These prices will set the trend for other medium and heavy grades from Kuwait, Iraq and Iran.

The price hikes have made Saudi crude, especially heavier grades, "very expensive", several buyers told Reuters.

 

ASIA-PACIFIC CRUDE

Three cargoes of Australia's North West Shelf (NWS) condensate are scheduled to load in January, steady from the previous month, a preliminary loading programme showed. Seller Volume Loading date Chevron 650KB Jan 4-8 BP 650KB Jan 14-18 BHP 650KB Jan 25-29

Indonesia has set the official Indonesia Crude Price (ICP) for Minas crude oil at $72.25 a barrel for September, up $4.26 from the previous month, a document from the Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources showed.

 

NEWS

China's crude oil imports plunged in October to the lowest since September 2018, as large state-owned refiners withheld purchases because of rising prices while independent refiners were restrained by limited quotas to import.

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, the group known as OPEC+, are able to increase oil supply if there is market demand, United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei told Asharq TV on Monday.

China's State Grid Corp warned of a "tight balance" between power supply and demand through winter until spring, even though a power crunch has eased following measures to boost coal supplies and get large users to cut back on electricity.

Having lagged a recovery in demand to pre-pandemic levels enjoyed by other fuels, jet fuel appears set finally to take off as more governments make air travel easier.

(Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)