Singapore — Benchmark Dubai crude futures' spreads ticked up in mid-morning Asian trading on the first trading day for September, amid uncertainty about the impact of fresh China trade tariffs on US crude that kicked in September 1.
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Register NowAt 11 am in Singapore on Monday (0300 GMT), the November Brent/Dubai futures spread, or Exchange of Futures for Swaps, was notionally pegged at $3.03/b, up from the $2.95/b assessed at Friday's Asian close.
The September/October Dubai futures spread -- which rolled over to become the new balance month spread -- moved up as well, to $1.07/b Monday morning, compared with $1.01/b Friday evening.
Meanwhile, the October/November Dubai futures were also treading upwards, at 81 cents/b Monday morning, compared to 78 cents/b Friday.
The Middle East sour crude market will move at a slower-than-usual pace this week as market participants await official selling prices from producers for the new cycle.
This month, the spot market will trade cargoes scheduled to load in November from the Persian Gulf to Asia.
Meanwhile, uncertainty about trade tensions between US and China dominated global trade headlines and kept crude traders on the wary side Monday.
New trade tariffs set by the US and China came into force on September 1 causing concerns about a future hit to global demand, sending oil prices lower, said analysts.
"Crude oil prices struggled as investors focused on the trade conflict, putting aside bullish supply-side issues," said analysts from ANZ Research in a note.
The US government began levying further 15% tariff on over $125 billion worth of Chinese imports. In retaliation, China imposed additional tariffs on some of the US goods on a $75 billion target list, while it imposed a new 5% levy on US crude oil starting from September 1, according to media reports Sunday.
"The latest tariffs set for 1 September had kicked into place as we head into a fresh week with sentiment expected to stay on the soft side," said Pan Jingyi, IG market strategist.
--Eesha Muneeb, eesha.muneeb@spglobal.com
--Avantika Ramesh, avantika.ramesh@spglobal.com
--Edited by Nurul Darni, nurul.indriani.darni@spglobal.com