Middle East Crude-Murban premium softens while more deliveries loom

Murban’s premium dipped on Friday as more cargo deliveries for June emerged in recent trade sessions, while the other benchmarks Dubai and Oman also weakened.

The premium for Murban fell to $2 a barrel on Friday, down 21 cents from the previous day.
Another three Murban cargo deliveries for June emerged, bringing the tally of Murban cargoes to eight in the month so far.

The rise in Murban deliveries came amid a backdrop of higher Murban oil shipments after UAE’s ADNOC decided to divert more Upper Zakum supply to its own refinery and to export more Murban.

Meanwhile, Dubai and Oman premiums fell on Friday, with trade slowing down compared to the previous day.

CHINA IMPORTS

China’s crude oil imports in March fell from high levels a year earlier but remained strong amid a surge in Russian shipments, official data showed on Friday.

Crude imports in March totalled 49.05 million metric tons, or about 11.55 million barrels per day (bpd), posting a 6.23% decrease from the same month last year.
But total crude imports for the first quarter stood at 137.4 million tons, a 0.7% increase from last year’s first quarter, due to an uptick in seaborne imports of Russian crude.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps slipped 19 cents to $2.12 a barrel. PetroChina will deliver three June-loading cargoes of Murban, each to Gunvor, Vitol and Equinor respectively.

NEWS

The International Energy Agency trimmed its forecast for 2024 oil demand growth on Friday, citing lower-than-expected consumption in OECD countries and a slump in factory activity.

The United States expects an attack by Iran against Israel but one that would not be big enough to draw Washington into war, a U.S. official said late on Thursday.

The United Arab Emirates’ state-owned oil company recently considered buying Britain’s BP, but the deliberations did not progress beyond preliminary discussions, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Russian missiles and drones destroyed a large electricity plant near Kyiv and hit power facilities in several regions of Ukraine on Thursday, officials said, ramping up pressure on the embattled energy system as Kyiv runs low on air defences.

The European Parliament voted on Thursday to pass rules allowing European governments to ban Russian liquefied natural gas imports, by preventing Russian firms from booking gas infrastructure capacity.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Vijay Kishore)