Middle East Crude-Dubai, Oman, Murban discounts narrow; Saudi Arabia cuts OSPs

- Discounts for the Middle East crude benchmarks of Oman, Dubai and Murban narrowed on Tuesday due to higher oil futures prices, although ample supplies capped gains.

Oil prices rose on Tuesday as reports of attacks on vessels near the Strait of Hormuz revived fears of disruptions to shipping through the critical energy transit route. O/R

Saudi Arabia, the world's top exporter, slashed the August official selling price on Monday for its flagship Arab Light crude to $1.50 a barrel, below the average of Oman and Dubai quotes for Asia, and down $11 from the previous month. It also cut the OSPs for four other grades by $11 a barrel.

The sudden change reflects the U.S.-Iran interim deal signed in June that prompted more shipping to flow through the crucial Strait of Hormuz and a resumption of oil loadings, weighing on global oil prices.

However, oil traders said that not only have other Gulf suppliers also cut their prices to attract demand, but the sanctions waiver on Iranian crude sales has also added to competition. They added that lifting crude from within the Gulf still carried some risk given the shaky U.S.-Iran truce, tempering demand.


TENDER

India's HPCL was seeking 2 million barrels of crude for September delivery, trade sources said.

Separately, Vietnameness refiners BSR and NSRP were also seeking crude for August-September delivery.

The three tenders will close on Tuesday.


SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai's premium to swaps rose $1.02 to $2.68 a barrel.

VITOL-MITSUI

66.50

MERCURIA-MITSUI

66.50

VITOL-MTSUI

66.50

MERCURIA-TRAFIGURA

66.40

MERCURIA-MITSUI

66.50


PRICES ($/BBL)


CURRENT

PREV SESSION

GME OMAN

66.35

63.84

GME OMAN DIFF TO DUBAI

-2.83

-3.96

CASH DUBAI

66.50

64.10


NEWS

Saudi Arabia is considering expanding the capacity of its crude oil pipeline to the western Red Sea coast, five sources close to the matter said, enabling the kingdom and possibly neighbours to transport more oil without crossing the Strait of Hormuz.

The United Arab Emirates raised its crude output to near record highs above 3.8 million barrels per day in June after it quit OPEC to escape production caps, two sources familiar with production data said on Monday.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards fired at least two missiles at commercial ships transiting through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday night, Axios reported, citing two U.S. officials.

Another two Japanese-owned supertankers carrying Saudi Arabian crude were heading to the Strait of Hormuz to exit the Gulf on Tuesday, shipping data from LSEG and Kpler showed, joining a fleet of previously stranded vessels that left a day earlier.

Kazakhstan will consider a request for fuel supplies from neighbouring Kyrgyzstan as it suffers from the knock-on effect of shortages in Russia, Kazakhstan's Deputy Energy Minister Kayirkhan Tutkyshbayev told reporters on Tuesday.


For crude prices, oil product cracks and refining margins, please click on the RICs below.

Brent

BRENTSGMc1

Dubai

DUBSGSWMc2

GME Oman

OQc1

Brent/Dubai EFS

DUB-EFS-1M


PRODUCT CRACKS

Fuel oil crack

FO180SGCKMc1

Gasoil crack

GO10SGCKMc1

Naphtha crack

NAF-SIN-CRK

Gasoline crack

GL92-SIN-CRK

Complex refining margins

REF/MARGIN1


RECENT CRUDE OIL TRADES:
Asia ACRU/T  Europe CRU/T Americas CRU/TU
      
CRUDE OIL MARKET NEWS      
Crude oil tenders in Asia                       CRU/TENDA
Crude oil supply outages in Asia                CRU/OUT-ASIA-O      
Refinery outages in Asia                        REF/OUT-ASIA-O      
Global arbitrage news and flows                 O/CRUDEARB      
W.African crude imports to Asia,  monthly       O/WAFRICA1      
REFINERY MAINTENANCE DIARIES      
Asia REF/A   Middle East REF/ME   Europe REF/E      
                       
NATIONAL CRUDE IMPORT DATA      
Japan     METI/JP1   China   O/CHINA1      
India     O/INDIA2   S.Korea O/KOREA1      
Indonesia O/INDO1-CRU         
                       
CRUDE OIL INVENTORY DATA      
Japan O/JAPAN1  US EIA/S  Europe O/EUROIL1      
                    
CRUDE OIL PRODUCTION/OILFIELD NEWS      
OPEC output survey OPEC/O          New Africa fields    AFR/NEW 
New projects       ENERGY/NEW      New Americas  fields AM/NEW
CRUDE OIL MARKET REPORTS      
Middle East             CRU/MAsia-Pacific         CRU/AP      
West Africa             CRU/WAF  North Sea            CRU/E      
Asia outlook            ASIA/CRU Europe outlook       EUR/CRU      
Global futures report   O/R      Technicals report    O/I      
                            
PRICES      
For all Official Selling  Prices       OSP/O      
For a POLL on oil  prices              O/POLL      
NYMEX and ICE oil  futures             OILOIL      
TOCOM crude oil  futures               0#JCO:      
Dubai, Oman swaps and  spread          ASIA/SWAP/CRUDE      
Middle East physical crude diffs       CRUDE/ASIA2      
Australia physical crude, Tapis swaps  CRUDE/ASIA1      
Asia-Pacific physical crude            CRUDE/ASIA3      
All Asian crude oil  differentials     0#C-DIF-A
All Asian crude oil outright  prices   0#C-A