Middle East Crude-Benchmarks rebound as more spot trades emerge

Middle East crude benchmarks Dubai and Oman climbed on Friday following two straight days of declines, as more spot trades emerged.

Meanwhile, Brent’s Exchange Futures for Swaps (EFS) to Dubai has steadied by the end of the trading week, after its volatile surge earlier this week.

November EFS DUB-EFS-1M was pegged at a premium of $1.90 a barrel at the Asia close on Friday, compared with $1.85 the previous day, LSEG data showed.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps rose 22 cents to $2.74 a barrel.

NEWS

Russia has temporarily banned exports of gasoline and diesel to all countries outside a circle of four ex-Soviet states with immediate effect in order to stabilise the domestic market, the government said on Thursday.

Oman’s Duqm refinery has completed its start-up processes and its operator OQ aims to begin commercial operations by year-end, it said on Thursday.

U.S. oil refiners that cranked up processing this year amid soaring demand for gasoline and diesel are being hit by outages weighing on their ability to rebuild thin fuel stockpiles and helping drive up fuel prices.

An Australian union alliance on Friday called off strikes at Chevron’s two major local liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, agreeing to resolve disputes that had threatened to disrupt around 7% of global LNG supplies.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh and Florence Tan; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)