Aramco keeps Asia Nov OSPs stable, Arab Light held at +$5.85/b

Quantum Commodity Intelligence - Saudi Aramco has kept its Official Selling Prices (OSPs) for November-loading crude largely stable on sales into Asia, at the low end of expectations after backwardation in the underlying Dubai benchmark improved last month.

For Aramco's key customer base in Asia, differentials for the flagship Arab Light were left unchanged at Platts Dubai/DME Oman +$5.85/b for loading next month.

Market watchers had tipped Aramco to slightly raise Arab Light OSP differentials for November after the Dubai market structure improved last month, although the slump in Asian refining margins offset this.

The key M1/M3 Dubai cash spread, which is closely monitored by Saudi Aramco and other Middle East National Oil Companies (NOCs), averaged $5.36/b in September compared to $4.89/b in August, according to Quantum data.

However, crack spreads for all the major products in Asia retreated last month, in part due to China allocating an additional 15 million mt of export quotas.

Arab Medium was tweaked up to $4/b from +$3.75/b, while Arab Heavy was set at +$2.45/b versus +$2.20/b for October barrels.

November Arab Extra Light was trimmed to $6.35/b over Dubai/Oman versus +$6.45/b for October-loading barrels.

Quantum's monthly average price for November-loading Dubai was $90.91/b, a fall of 5.88%.

For Northwest Europe, Arab Light was set at +$0.90 over ICE Brent futures, while Medium was fixed at minus $1.30/b, with both grades sharply reduced to reflect the crunch in the Brent/Dubai spread.

The Brent/Dubai cash spread narrowed to an average of $0.24/b last month, compared to $1.12/b the previous month, as the spread flipped between positive and negative.

Arab Light for October to the US was also lower at +$6.35/b over ASCI (Argus Sour Crude Index).