Intermonth spreads for benchmark Dubai crude futures were rangebound at midday in Asia trade Sept. 11 as spot activity in the sour crude market remained thin.
At 12 pm Singapore time (0400 GMT), the October/November spread for Dubai crude futures was pegged at a contango of 36 cents/b, inching down 1 cent/b from the Asia close Sept. 10, S&P Global Platts data showed.
The November/December spread was pegged at a contango of 39 cents/b, also down 1 cent/b over the same period.
Most market participants were waiting for the release of a fresh batch of official selling prices this week before taking positions, with more tenders expected to be issued next week.
In the latest OSP announcement, Qatar Petroleum has lowered the OSP differentials for its Land and Marine crude grades loading over October by $1.35-$1.40/b from September, the company website showed Sept. 11.
QP set the latest OSP differential for Qatar Land crude at a discount of 90 cents/b to the average of Platts Dubai and Oman crude assessments in October, down $1.40/b from the differential for September. It set the OSP differential for Qatar Marine crude loading over October at a discount of 75 cents/b to Dubai/Oman, down $1.35/b from September.
This came a day after Kuwait Petroleum Corp. lowered all its OSP differentials for crudes loading in October, with prices for cargoes destined for Asia seeing the biggest drop, according to a notice seen by Platts Sept. 10.
For Asia-bound FOB barrels, KPC lowered the price differential of its Kuwait Export Crude blend by $1.20/b from September to the average of Oman and Dubai crude assessments for October minus 50 cents/b. It also lowered the differential for its Kuwait Super Light crude to Asia by $1.40/b from September to Oman/Dubai minus 70 cents/b for October.
The cuts by both producers were largely in line with those of Saudi Aramco and ADNOC earlier in the week, and market differentials are unlikely to rebound to significant premiums amid continuing demand uncertainty, trade sources said.
