Front-month Brent/Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps for benchmark Dubai crude futures narrowed further mid-morning Oct. 7 while India kicked off its crude purchases indicating stronger buying appetite ahead of the festive season.
The December Brent/Dubai EFS was pegged at $4.02/b, down 25 cents/b from the Asian close on Oct. 6, S&P Global Platts data showed.
India commenced its crude buying activity through issuance of monthly spot tenders.
Indian Oil Corp., the country’s largest refiner, issued tenders seeking crude from the Middle East, West Africa and other regions loading in November and December.
IOC was heard to have bought various crude grades including 1 million barrels each of December loading Basrah Light, Basrah Heavy and Abu Dhabi’s Murban crude.
It was also heard to have bought 1 million barrels each of West African Djeno and Agbami crude.
India’s crude demand is expected to improve as the festive season approaches despite fears of another wave of the coronavirus pandemic, sources said.
The Murban was heard bought by BP, the Basrah Light by Trafigura and Basrah Heavy by Gunvor while the West African grades were heard bought by Total.
However, the information could not be verified.
Meanwhile, oil futures retreated after build up in US stocks was reported and as energy supply concerns eased following Russia’s announcement to supply record gas volumes to Europe this year.
At mid-morning Singapore, the ICE December Brent futures contract was down 49 cents/b (0.6%) from the previous close at $80.59/b, data showed.
The intermonth spreads for benchmark Dubai crude futures were stable compared to the previous days close.
Source: Platts