CRUDE MOC: Cash Oman premium follows cash Dubai down to sub-$2/b territory

Singapore — Benchmark cash Oman's premium to Dubai futures dropped under $2/b at the end of the Platts Market on Close assessment process on Thursday, while benchmark cash Dubai ticked up a few notches as market sentiment consolidated toward month end.

March cash Oman's premium to March Dubai futures was assessed at $1.98/b, down from $2.21/b on Wednesday. Meanwhile, cash Dubai's premium to futures -- which had dropped below $2/b earlier this week -- ticked up to $1.44/b from $1.40/b day on day.

Meanwhile, the Platts MOC for Middle East sour crude saw three partials of March Dubai change hands during Thursday's process. PetroChina bought a partial each from Unipec and Chinese independent refiner Hengli. The third partial of 25,000 barrels was sold by Unipec to PetroChina. All three partials traded at an outright price of $57.70/b.

This brings the total count for partials traded in January to 117. Of these, 111 have been Dubai partials and six have been Oman.

The month saw two convergences, both on Dubai partials and both for Upper Zakum cargoes sized 500,000 barrels. One of these was declared by Unipec to PetroChina, and the other by Reliance to PetroChina upon convergence of 20 partials of Dubai.

The month also saw robust activity for full-sized cargoes on the Platts MOC, with seven clips of 500,000 barrels each traded. These included Upper Zakum, Qatar Marine, Murban and Das Blend. Cargoes of other grades such as Banoco Arab Medium and Qatar Land were offered in the MOC but did not see buying interest.