Middle East Crude-Murban dips as Japanese refineries shut units

Middle East crude benchmarks traded mixed on Thursday, with Oman ticking up while Murban edging down.

Spot premium for light sour crude Murban, a grade widely used among Japanese refiners, fell to $0.85 a barrel over Dubai quotes, following two accidents at major refineries in Japan.

Cosmo Oil, a unit of Cosmo Energy Holdings Co 5021.T, shut down the 75,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) No.1 crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Chiba refinery near Tokyo on Feb. 7 due to system trouble, a company spokesperson said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Japanese refiner Idemitsu Kosan Co 5019.T has shut its crude distillation unit (CDU) and some derivative units at its Aichi refinery for repairs following a technical issue, three sources with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps climbed by 1 cent to $0.89 per barrel.

NEWS

U.S. crude stocks rose as oil refiners took in less oil, following extreme cold weather that knocked out utilization last month, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.

India’s fuel consumption rose 8.2% year-on-year in January, government data showed on Thursday, helped by strong industrial activity in the world’s third top oil consumer.

Oil production in the prodigious Permian shale basin in Texas and New Mexico this year will see the slowest annual growth since 2021, according to market participants, as a slew of acquisitions reduces activity among private drillers.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Muyu Xu; Editing by Eileen Soreng)