SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks Oman and Dubai rose on Thursday, while activities winded down for the August trading cycle.
ExxonMobil offered an August-loading Upper Zakum crude cargo at a premium of $1.15 to Dubai quotes, or a discount of 30 cents to OSP, via Window, while Vitol bided at a premium of 80 cents to Dubai quotes.
ASIA PACIFIC CRUDE:
Spot premium for August-loading Russian ESPO crude weakened further to just above $3 a barrel to Dubai quotes as Trafigura lately sold a cargo at that level, traders said.
Petronas sold a cargo of August-loading Bertam crude at a little above $3 a barrel to Dated Brent, one trader said.
NEWS
Energy trader Mercuria sees the oil market in deficit in July with stock draws reaching about 2 million barrels per day (bpd) as the world economy revives after coronavirus lockdowns, its chief executive told a Reuters webinar on Wednesday.
The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on five Iranian ship captains who delivered oil to Venezuela, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reaffirmed Washington's backing for Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido.
U.S. energy companies slammed the brakes on returning staff to their Houston offices as COVID-19 cases soared and top hospitals warned they could soon run out of beds for the most severely ill patients.
The value of Saudi Arabia's oil exports dropped by 65.4% in April when compared to the same month a year earlier, or a fall of about $12 billion, official data showed on Thursday.
U.S. crude oil refining capacity grew by nearly 1 percent in 2019, or 173,650 barrels per day (bpd) to nearly 19 million bpd, a new record, according to a report released on Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
(Reporting By Shu Zhang) ((shu.zhang@thomsonreuters.com; +65-6870-3549; Reuters Messaging: Twitter @shuzhang4))
