DUBAI FUTURES: Intermonth spreads rangebound as physical trade trickles

Singapore — Benchmark Dubai crude futures intermonth spreads were rangebound at noon on Oct. 27 as Asian refiners have mostly concluded their purchasing for the month.

At 12 pm in Singapore (0400 GMT), the November/December timespread was pegged at a contango of 21 cents/b, widening 1 cent/b from the Asia close Oct. 26, S&P Global Platts data showed.

The December/January timespread was pegged at a contango of 21 cents/b, unchanged from the previous day's close, the data showed.

The spreads have eased from multi-week highs at the end of the week ended Oct. 24 as Asian refiners were heard to have mostly fulfilled their spot requirement for December-loading Middle East barrels.

With the emergence of additional demand seen earlier in October, some market participants expect the Middle East crude market to remain mostly supported for the remainder of the month.

The December-loading trading cycle will conclude on Oct. 30, the last trading day of the month.

"This month its a sellers' market for Middle East crude, not so many cargoes are showing [anymore]," said a North Asian crude trader.

The Brent/Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swap or EFS, meanwhile, was pegged at 24 cents/b at noon, just a cent/b wider than the 23 cents/b assessed at the Asian close on Oct. 26.

The EFS has narrowed to two-weeks lows in recent days as high crude supply in Northwest Europe on the back of a slowdown in European refining, continue to weigh on the Brent crude complex.