Middle East Crude

　Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) would settle February-loading OSPs in early December. The Das OSP's discounts to Murban were expected to widen. One energy company predicted that ADNOC was likely to set the OSP for February-loading Das at discounts of 50-55cts to Murban. The OSP for January-loading Das was at discounts of 45cts to Murban. Some term contractors sensed the OSP for January-loading Das as expensive and reduced intake of term cargoes of Das. As a result, supply/demand fundamentals for February-loading Das had been temporarily slack.

African/European/Russian/American Crude

　In the trade of North Sea grade for Asia, South Korea's GS Caltex purchased a total of 2.0 mil barrels of North Sea's Johan Sverdrup for March arrival. The seller was said to be North European Equinor and the price was heard at a premium of the $2.00s level to Dubai quotes on a CFR basis. Amid weaker freight rates, the end-user in South Korea was believed to have procured the cargo as the price was sensed as attractive relative to other grades such as Middle Eastern grades.

Asia Pacific Crude

　In trade for February-loading Malaysian grades, talks were almost fading as buyers and sellers retreated to the sidelines. Apart from that, Petron Malaysia was expected to restart its Port Dixson refinery (with production capacity of 880,000 barrels per day) in end-December. Meanwhile, Malaysia's state-owned Petronas and US Conoco Philipps were likely to deliver Malaysian term cargoes such as Tapis and Labuan to the refinery as scheduled, according to sources. The Port Dixson refinery had halted operations due to a glitch since end-September.