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China has announced the first batch of crude oil import quotas for 2023, primarily targeted for the independent refiners, according to reports.
A total of 20 million metric tonnes (MT) of quotas were issued.
Recently additional product export and crude import quotas for 2022 were issued. It is likely that refiners would await improvement in domestic market conditions and a pick-up in refining margins before increasing throughputs drastically.
China’s services sector PMI fell below 50 in September, signaling a contraction.
Across the world, refinery strikes in France are scheduled to continue, which is likely to add more pressure on the domestic market.
Middle East exports
Weekly crude oil exports from the Middle East were lower at 132.3 million bbl while North African exports were higher at 17.0 million bbl.
Saudi Aramco is reported to have informed at least seven Asian refiners those full contractual volumes will be supplied in November, despite the OPEC+ cuts that would be in place.
Saudi Arabia announced the official selling prices (OSPs) for November loading crude oil with differentials for lighter grades kept constant or cut marginally while the Medium and Heavy grades saw an increase of $0.25/bbl. OSPs for oil sold to Europe was cut while that to the USA was increased. ADNOC cut the OSP for November loading Murban crude oil to $92.45bbl from $98.06/bbl.
Iraq's state-owned oil marketer, SOMO, announced the November OSPs, increasing the Basrah Medium and Heavy differentials to Asia while lowering the same for Europe.
(Reporting by Sudharsan Sarathy; editing by Seban Scaria)
