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DJ ASIA CRUDE:Oman Refiners Sidelined By Weak Fuel Oil Crack(Comtex Business Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) SINGAPORE, Nov 14, 2006 (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex) --Spot discounts on Middle East bellwether Oman crude oil supplies narrowed Tuesday but sentiment remained under pressure from soft buying interest among Asian refiners. January-loading cargoes of the medium sour grade were discussed at 12 cents to 22 cents a barrel below the Ministry of Oil & Gas official selling price, about 3 cents firmer from Monday's range, traders said. Still, the uptick was downplayed as end-users aren't expected to step into the market until next week. "At this early stage, whatever level is not really meaningful," said a senior Northeast Asian refinery official. Demand for Oman crude - the most widely traded Middle East spot grade - has also been muted because of an underperforming fuel oil crack in Asia, which has encouraged refiners to cut throughput. The benchmark discount of Singapore 180-centistoke high-sulfur fuel oil to Dubai crude was valued by a broker at $15.06/bbl for November and $14.77/bbl for December. "Oman surely is not the first priority crude to anybody, even to the Chinese," the refinery official said. Separately, oil major Royal Dutch Shell PLC was heard holding out an offer for a January cargo of Murban at a 10-cent/bbl premium to the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. OSP. There were no firm bids reported for the light sour grade, possibly because potential buyers were keeping a lookout for offers of light sweet Sokol, a substitute grade from Russia's Far East. Qatar Petroleum was heard to have sold, through its quarterly tender for January-March, four 600,000-bbl cargoes of heavy sour Al-Shaheen to Exxon Mobil Corp. and one cargo each to Shell, Chevron Corp. and Thai state-controlled refiner PTT PCL. The tender was awarded at discounts of $2.50-$2.80/bbl to Dubai full-month quotes, in line with recent spot dealings, traders said. Cash Dubai was assessed 99 cents lower at $58.09-$58.14/bbl as of 0930 GMT, with ICE Brent futures for January, which moves to the front month from Thursday, trading at $60.62/bbl. The Brent-Dubai exchange-for-swaps was quoted by another broker at $2.41/bbl for January, unchanged from Monday, while Tapis-Brent gained 3 cents to $1.35/bbl. -By Yee Kai Pin, Dow Jones Newswires; 65-6415-4062; [email protected] -Edited by Tracy Gan (END) Dow Jones Newswires 11-14-06 0453ET Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. |