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Asia crude: Gulf spot trade calm, OSPs announced

TOKYO: The Gulf crude market remained quiet on Monday, yet traders expect trading to pick up this week as most official selling prices (OSP) have now been announced.

Oman's Ministry of Oil and Gas (MOG) cut its February crude premium to Asian benchmark Dubai crude by 15 cents, to $1.08 per barrel, traders said. Traders said Oman's OSP will certainly be a supportive factor for the market, yet it is uncertain whether Oman spot differentials will recover significantly from current levels amid uncertainty over Chinese demand.

"Oman OSP makes it easier to buy the crude. But it's a question whether spot differentials will recover much as Chinese demand holds the key," a trading house trader said.

April Oman was notionally assessed as around MOG flat to MOG minus five cents per barrel. It most recently traded at parity to the OSP.

Traders said they expected Taiwan's state-owned Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC) to issue a tender to buy the Middle East crude grades this week.

Qatar General Petroleum Corp (QGPC) has raised its February Land and Marine crudes' premiums over Oman crude by 1 cent per barrel from January, traders said.

Saudi Arabia raised for April its Arab Heavy crude oil official selling price to Asia by 35 cents per barrel, and its Arab Medium crude price by 20 cents.

The kingdom reduced its Arab Extra Light formula to Asia by 20 cents per barrel and reduced the price of its Arab Super Light by 25 cents per barrel to $2.10 per barrel. But it left unchanged its Arab Light price, traders said.

In other crude related news, state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has issued another tender to buy sour crudes for April lifting. Traders said this was India's third tender to buy April sour grades.

The second tender closed at the end of last week, but traders said no cargoes were awarded. -Reuters