SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks Dubai slipped on Monday on strong selling pressure on Platts window, along with a more than 4% slide in global crude futures amid concerns about economic impact from the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

Most of the February-loading sour crude cargoes have changed hands last week and the robust demand has supported prices, lifting them from multi-month lows seen earlier last week.

Thailand's PTT has bought a second Murban crude cargo for February-loading on behalf of refiner IRPC via a tender last week, traders said. However, the price and seller were not immediately known.

Also, Taiwan's CPC is finalising on Monday a tender seeking February-loading sour crude while its sweet crude tender closes later in the day.

For Russian grades, spot premiums for ESPO crude loading in February have edged up after hitting four-month lows last week, tracking a rebound in values for rival Middle East grades, trade sources said. 

ESPO's premiums to Dubai quotes rose to $3.10-$3.15 a barrel in Surgutneftegaz's third tender, which was awarded late on Friday, they said.

Vitol and Mercuria may have bought the cargoes for loading on Feb. 17-24 and 20-27, the sources said.

 

MOVES

Chinaoil Singapore, the trading arm of Chinese oil giant PetroChina, has appointed a new head of crude trading after former head Zhang Yufeng resigned, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Li Henan has taken over as the head of crude trading, the sources said. Chinaoil also plans to transfer senior trader Yue Zan from Beijing to its Singapore office soon, they said. It was not immediately clear what Zhang's next role might be.

 

NEWS

China's crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia in November fell 13% from a year earlier, but the kingdom retained its ranking as the top supplier to the world's biggest oil importer. 

Asia's gasoil refining profits are on track to jump around 30% this year and expected to climb further in 2022, as the regional market shrugs off the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic with India and China driving demand. 

Exports and transit of oil from Russia are planned at 56.05 million tonnes in the first quarter of 2022 versus 58.3 million tonnes in the fourth quarter of 2021, a quarterly export schedule seen by Reuters showed on Friday. 

Kuwait has extended oil supply contracts for Indian refiners by three months to March 2022 due to a delay in the commissioning of its 615,000 barrel-per-day Al-Zour refinery, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

China's diesel exports in November plunged 69% from a year ago as refineries prioritised domestic supply to ease a fuel crunch, while gasoline exports also dropped. 

(Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips) ((Florence.Tan@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: florence.tan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))