Contango between 1st, 3rd-month cash Dubai crude breaks above $1/b

Chemical News: Contango between 1st, 3rd-month cash Dubai crude breaks above $1/b

https://www.chemnet.com Aug 22,2014 Platts
The contango between first and third month cash Dubai crude broke above $1/barrel Thursday for the first time since 2010 as the sour Middle Eastern crude market has followed structural weakness in the Brent market and demand for sour Middle Eastern crude from Asian refiners has been lackluster due to a raft of competing grades on offer.

On Thursday, the contango between first- and third-month cash Dubai was assessed at $1.21/b, a widening of 29 cents/b on the day to the widest since September 14 2010 when it was at $1.25/b.

The underlying market weakness was also seen in the spot market for official selling price crudes, with traders pointing to Qatar Marine trading around an 80 cents/b discount to the grade's OSP, with Mitsui was heard to have sold a October loading cargo of the grade to Shell.

Murban, Abu Dhabi's flagship light sour crude meanwhile was heard to have traded at a 93 cents/b discount to its OSP, with Fuji Oil heard buying a cargo from Unipec.

On Wednesday Total sold an October-loading cargo of Das Blend at a $1/b discount to Glencore, in the Platts Market on Close assessment process.

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