--Middle East

　In the trade of Iranian grades bound for Asia, Chinese companies led by independent oil firms continued to buy spot cargoes. Since mid-June when the conflict between Israel and Iran started to escalate, both buyers and sellers had refrained from trading for a while, but trade of Iranian grades once again gained momentum since July. In the market from the middle of August, Iranian Light (IL) was said to be done at discounts of $3.50-4.00 to ICE Brent on a CFR China basis for October to November arrival, while Iranian Heavy (IH) was heard traded at a discount of around $5.50 to the benchmark crude. A company in Northeast Asia pointed out, "Many Chinese companies continue to buy Iranian grades, regarding Iranian values as more attractive than Middle Eastern grades. IL and IH were sold via VLCC tankers. Over the recent months, about 20VLCCs per month appeared to be bound for China."

--Africa/Europe/Russia/America

　In the trade of Canadian heavy grades bound for Asia, talks for cargoes ex-TMX pipeline for November arrival became active. As for November arrival in China, Access Western Blend (AWB) were offered at discounts of $2.80 to ICE Brent while Cold Lake was offered at discounts of $1.80 to ICE Brent. These offers were slightly above $1 lower than those for October arrival in late July.

--Asia Pacific

　Malaysia's state-owned Petronas said it has modified the way to set the official selling price (OSP) for Malaysian Miri crude from October-loading onward. The OSP for Miri is currently set at the monthly average price to Dated Brent plus alpha factor of Malaysian Crude Oil (MCO) OSP, or the basket price for Labuan, Kikeh, Kimanis and Miri. From October-loading, the final OSP is settled, after adding beta factor on top of alpha factor. The alpha and beta factors based on the new price formula would be announced in September.