Middle East crude benchmarks Oman and Dubai edged higher on Tuesday, while Murban’s premium touched the highest level this month on robust demand for light grades.
Strong margins for light and middle distillates continued to drive demand for Abu Dhabi light grades such as Murban, nudging its spot premium up 18 cents at $1.36 a barrel.
Taiwanese refiner Formosa Petrochemical has bought 2 million barrels of Oman crude from Aramco Trading at 40-50 cents a barrel above April Dubai quotes on a cost and freight basis for end-May delivery via a tender, traders said.
Separately, PTT will close its tender later onTuesday.
RUSSIAN CRUDE
Three tankers with Russian Sokol oil that had been stranded at sea due to payment problems and Western sanctions have started to move towards China and India, data from Kpler and LSEG showed on Monday.
NS Century and Nellis are carrying a combined 2.2 million barrels of Sokol to Chinese ports, according to data analytics firm Kpler. Both tankers are subject to fresh U.S. sanctions for breaching a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian oil.
The Gabon-flagged tanker NS Commander, not subject to U.S. sanctions, with some 600,000 barrels of Sokol oil onboard was heading towards Jamnagar port in India, according to Kpler and LSEG data.
Some 7.5 million barrels of Sokol remained stuck at sea as of Monday, according to Kpler, down from over 10 million barrels two weeks earlier.
Source: Hellenic Shipping News
