Middle East crude benchmark spot premiums of Dubai, Murban and Oman edged up on Friday, after QatarEnergy raised its term price for al-Shaheen crude oil loading in January.

QatarEnergy set the January price at 84 cents a barrel above Dubai quotes, up from the 54 cents for December-loading cargoes, which was the lowest in more than a year due to abundant Middle Eastern supply, trade sources said.

The price was set after QatarEnergy awarded six al-Shaheen cargoes to Totsa, the trading arm of TotalEnergies TTE, Indian refiner HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd and Vitol via its monthly tender.

Separately, the company sold one January-loading Qatar Marine crude cargo to Unipec, the trading arm of Chinese oil major Sinopec 600028, at a premium around 5 cents to Dubai quotes, the people said.

It also sold a Qatar Land cargo to India’s Reliance RELIANCE1!

Premiums moved little on a weekly basis, while the market continues to watch demand from India, where refiners are scouting for oil to replace Russian supplies.

Indian Oil Corp IOC, the country’s top refiner, has bought 4 million barrels of Western African crude for January to early February delivery via a tender, sources said on Friday.

The company bought Nigeria’s Akko and Usan crude, as well as Angola’s Nemba and Hungo crude. The purchase volume for each grade was one million barrels, they said.

The tenders were awarded to Totsa, the trading arm of TotalEnergies TTE and Exxon Mobil XOM.

India’s Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL has bought about 3.7 million barrels crude oil from West Africa, United States and the Middle East via spot purchases this week to replace oil from Russia, trade sources said.

The refiner bought one million barrels of Angola’s Agogo crude from Eni ENI for the first time and one million barrels of U.S. Mars crude from Shell SHEL, they said.

It also purchased 700,000 barrels of Iraqi Ratawi crude from Chevron CVX and one million barrels of Abu Dhabi’s Upper Zakum crude from Trafigura, they added.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps rose 9 cents to 91 cents a barrel.

NEWS

China’s crude oil throughput in October rose 6.4% year-on-year as refiners ramped up throughput on improving margins.

China’s Sinochem has shut one of the crude units at its Quanzhou site in Fujian province in southeastern China, following a fire incident on Thursday, seven trade sources said on Friday.
Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk halted oil exports on Friday after a Ukrainian drone attack, and oil pipeline monopoly Transneft TRNFP suspended crude supplies to the outlet, two industry sources told Reuters.

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which exports oil from Kazakhstan via a Russian Black Sea terminal, suspended oil loadings after a Ukrainian drone attack on Novorossiysk, a source familiar with the situation said on Friday.
Source: Reuters