Intermonth spreads for benchmark Dubai crude futures were rangebound in mid-morning trade Aug. 6 ahead of the release of fresh monthly official selling prices by Middle Eastern producers.
Talk in the market about when Saudi Aramco would release its closely-watched OSPs ranged from later in the day to the weekend due to delays flowing from the recent Eid holiday.
The September/October Dubai crude futures spread was pegged at a contango of 34 cents/b at 12 pm Singapore time (0400 GMT) Aug. 6, narrowing 2 cents/b from the Asia close the day before, S&P Global Platts data showed.
The October/November spread was pegged at a contango of 27 cents/b, narrowing 1 cent/b over the same period.
"There's nothing much going on now as the market is waiting for new OSPs and overall sentiment is still bearish," a sour crude oil trader said.
October cash Dubai was assessed at a discount of 51 cents/b at the Asia close Aug. 5, sliding 18.5 cents/b day on day, Platts data showed. The discount was last lower at 52 cents/b on May 29. October cash Oman was assessed down 26 cents/b over the same period at a discount of 40 cents/b.
Market sentiment is weak as demand is expected to remain lackluster from major end-user market China after its refineries bought more than enough in the previous quarter, sources said.
Crude imports for China's independent refineries hit a record high 19.81 million mt or 4.68 million b/d in July as Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical more than doubled its shipments from June, Platts reported earlier.
Limited availability of crude import quotas and high inventory levels in China will also likely cap the sector's import volumes for the rest of the year, industry officials and refinery sources said.
