Adnoc increases December Murban OSP, cuts Upper Zakum differential
Quantum Commodity Intelligence - Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (Adnoc) has cut Official Selling Prices (OSPs) for December-loading crude, with its flagship Murban grade set at $93.53/b versus the November OSP of $92.45/b.
The Murban OSP, priced at the average settlement of ICE Futures Abu Dhabi (IFAD) Murban contract during October, was up by just over 1%, having rebounded from mid-month weakness that saw prices briefly dip below $90/b.
Medium sour Upper Zakum was set at $90.73/b, a $2.80/b discount to Murban versus minus $1.70/b for November cargoes.
Upper Zakum was the lowest of the Dubai basket grades during October, including a total of three Upper Zakum cargoes nominated following convergence in the MOC trading window, along with one Oman cargo.
Quantum's monthly average price for December-loading Dubai was $91.13/b, or a marginal gain of 0.25%, while Asia cash December Brent averaged $93.26/b over the month based on the 430pm Asia close, up 2.3%.
Das crude was set by Adnoc at minus $1.10/b, unchanged on the previous month, while Umm Lulu was also left unchanged at parity to Murban.
Meanwhile, Adnoc has trimmed export forecasts for next year for its flagship Murban crude oil grade in a signal that the state-owned producer is preparing for extended production cuts under the latest OPEC+ agreement.
Adnoc is set to reduce exports at the giant onshore field from January 2023 by 80,000 bpd to a scheduled 1.366 million bpd. The export reductions are set to be maintained until at least October of next year, which is as far as provisional programmes go out.
Exports are set to range between 1.376-1.386 million bpd from February 2022.
The UAE is set to reign in production from November as part of its 160,000 bpd contribution to the OPEC+ cuts, indicating that output from the offshore Upper and Lower Zakum offshore fields will also be reduced.
Total Murban production capacity is up to around 1.8 million bpd, with the non-export volumes processed at the giant Ruwais refining and petrochemical complex.
