Middle East Crude

　It was widely expected among market players that Saudi Arabia's state-owned Saudi Aramco in early February would likely to reduce the country's flagship Arab Light (AL) Official Selling Price (OSP) formula from February. Many long-term buyers believed that Saudi Aramco would reduce the March-loading OSP by 40-80cts, citing that inter-month spreads for Dubai crude, a factor to set the AL OSP, narrowed. On the other hand, some players expected Saudi Aramco to limit the scale of the cut. The OSP had been reduced for three months in a row until the February-loading and the OSP was currently already at low levels. Furthermore, "Saudi Arabia may take uncertainty over Iranian situations and lingering geopolitical risks into consideration," said a player in Southeast Asia.

African/European/Russian/American Crude

　In Nigerian crude trade, a deal for Vietnam was reported. Vietnam's Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical (BSR) purchased Qua Iboe. Although the price was undisclosed, the cargo was procured in a monthly buy tender issued by Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical (BSR), with the tender targeting March-delivery cargoes. ExxonMobil won the tender and appeared to be selling a February-loading Qua Iboe cargo to BSR as March delivery.

Asia Pacific Crude

In the trade of March-loading Papua New Guinea's Kutubu, US Chevron sold Kutubu to South Korea's Hyundai Oilbank. The details for the price were unknown. But traded levels for March-loading Australia's Ichthys condensate, a grade with a relatively close quality with Kutubu, softened. Under the circumstances, The March-loading Kutubu could have traded lower than the previous month, according to some market sources. For February-loading Kutubu, Australia's Santos sold one cargo to European Glencore at a premium of low $2.00s to Dated Brent.