Middle East Crude

　In the trade of Abu Dhabi Murban, INPEX on Nov 28 sold three cargoes of February-loading Murban at premiums of 21-22cts to OSP. European Vitol, Glencore and Gunvor purchased one cargo each for reselling purpose. A trader in Singapore pointed out that demand/supply fundamentals for Murban were slack and the February market was at the similar level as January-loading. Middle distillate crack spreads in Singapore already reached a ceiling, while the 817,000 barrels per day (b/d) Ruwais refinery in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) would enter turnaround from mid-December, which created more supplies that were mainly processed in the refinery.

African/European/Russian/American Crude

　Spot differentials for Sudanese Dar Blend rose sharply. Low sulfur fuel oil margins in Asia have improved, thus blending demand with fuel oil was healthy, helping boost the market. Senning under the umbrella of China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) so far sold December-loading Dar Blend via a tender as reported. It later turned out that the price was at a discount of slightly narrower than $2.00 to Dated Brent. The buyer was believed to be a trader. For November-loading Dar Blend, Malaysia's state-owned Petronas earlier sold one cargo at a discount of mid-$4.00s to Dated Brent last month, thus the price gained sharply.

Asia Pacific Crude

In trade for December-loading Australian heavy grades, Mitsui & CP Ltd sold Vincent at premiums in the $11's to Dated Brent although the buyer was unknown. The buyer had been apparently keen on spot purchase the back of a considerable improvement in refinery margins for LSFO. In fact, crack spread for fuel oil of 0.5% sulfur in December was $10.98 in Singapore on Nov 24, up about $2.80 from end-October. Australia's Woodside had sold Vincent at premiums of $9 to Dated Brent from end-October to early November.