Dubai crude intermonth spreads steady as Brent/Dubai spread widens

Intermonth spreads for benchmark Dubai crude futures were little changed from the previous day's close, while Dubai's discount to ICE Brent widened in mid-morning Asian trade on Friday.

The spread between February Dubai futures and March Dubai futures was pegged at 84 cents/b at 10 am in Singapore (0200 GMT) Friday, an inch lower from the assessed 85 cents/b at the 4:30 pm Asian close on Thursday.

The March/April spread was pegged at 82 cents/b Friday morning, also slightly lower than the 83 cents/b assessment at the close of trading Thursday.

Spreads were steady Friday morning following an uptick in benchmark cash Dubai crude premium against Dubai futures at 4:30 pm on Thursday as pockets of demand for Middle East crude remained towards the end of the trading cycle, market participants said.

March cash Dubai was assessed at a premium of $2.12/b to same-month Dubai futures at the end of Thursday's Platts Market on Close assessment process, rebounding from a three-week low of $2.01/b premium on Wednesday, S&P Global Platts data showed.

A total of 22 March Dubai partials traded on the Platts MOC assessment process in Asia on Thursday, bringing the total partial count to 100 to-date in January, consisting of 94 Dubai partials and six Oman partials.

Meanwhile, the Dubai crude futures discount to ICE Brent widened with the March Brent/Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps spread pegged at $2.13/b Friday morning, up from $1.97/b assessed at the close of trading in Asia at 0830 GMT Thursday.

The Brent/Dubai EFS rebounded Friday after trending downwards for most of the week, Platts data showed.

Crude oil prices have come under pressure this week amid concerns that oil demand will be impacted by the Wuhan coronavirus especially during a period of busy air travel expected on account of the Lunar New Year holidays.

S&P Global Platts Analytics estimated Wednesday that in a "disaster scenario" where Wuhan coronavirus is as deadly and contagious as the 2003 SARS pandemic, global jet demand could fall by 650,000-700,000 b/d.