SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks Oman and Dubai were mixed on Thursday amid thin trade.

Unipec will deliver a February-loading Oman crude cargo to Total following the Platts window deals.

 

CHINA CUTS CRUDE IMPORT QUOTA

China has issued its first batch of 2022 crude oil import quotas at 109.03 million tonnes, 11% below 2021's first allotment, according to industry sources and a document reviewed by Reuters, with large private firms winning out over smaller processors. 

Among the 42 companies granted quotas, the country's top three private refiners — Zhejiang Petrochemical Corp (ZPC), Hengli Petrochemical and Shenghong Petrochemical — together won 41.95 million tonnes. That was about 38% of the total and nearly 50% more than a year earlier.

ZPC, China's single largest refiner with total crude processing capacity of 800,000 barrels per day, was awarded 20 million tonnes, followed by Hengli with 14 million tonnes and Shenghong at 7.95 million tonnes, according to the document from the Ministry of Commerce.

Smaller plants, most of which are based in eastern refining hub of Shandong province, received a total of 51.4 million tonnes of quotas, about 26% less than a year ago, the documents showed.

Separately, China has issued its first refined fuel import quotas for 2022, with gasoline and diesel volumes sharply up from a year ago, and naphtha, a petrochemicals feedstock, largely steady, according to industry sources and a document seen by Reuters. 

 

SAUDI OSP PREVIEW

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia may implement deep price cuts for the crude it sells to Asia in February after Middle East benchmarks and spot prices slumped this month, industry sources said. 

The producer is expected to cut official selling prices (OSPs) of all grades by more than $1 in February from the previous month, dropping prices back to their lowest levels in three to four months, a Reuters survey of seven crude buyers showed.

 

TENDERS

Taiwanese refiner CPC has bought 2 million barrels of U.S. WTI crude for March arrival at premiums between $2 and $2.50 a barrel above dated Brent, traders said.

The refiner also purchased 1 million barrels each of Angolan Palanca and Doba crude from Chad, they said.

India's MRPL will close next Thursday a tender seeking 1 million barrels of crude for March delivery.

 

NEWS

Saudi Arabia's King Salman said on Wednesday the OPEC+ production agreement was "essential" to oil market stability and stressed the need for producers to comply with the pact. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2TE1PX

U.S. oil and gas executives are predicting higher production and drilling activity next year as oil prices climb, but say they face sharply higher costs, according to a poll released on Wednesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. 

The U.S. National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday impounded ballots that will decide whether the United Steelworkers (USW) continues to represent workers at an Exxon Mobil oil refinery in southeast Texas. 

Russian oil giant Rosneft has selected Vitol, Trafigura and Glencore as the main buyers for its light oil products including diesel and naphtha for loading over the course of 2022, three traders said on Wednesday. 

(Reporting by Florence Tan) ((Florence.Tan@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: florence.tan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))