Dubai Petroleum leaves October crude OSP at DME Oman parity

Quantum Commodity Intelligence – Dubai's Department of Petroleum Affairs has set the Official Selling Price (OSP) for Dubai crude loading in October at parity with the average settlement of Oman crude oil futures traded on the Dubai Mercantile Exchange in August.

This is unchanged from September-loading barrels, as Dubai crude has traded at a small discount versus DME Oman futures this month.

The Quantum rolling average for September-loading Dubai to date is $79.45/b, effective 25 July, while DME Oman has averaged $79.49/b, according to exchange data.

However, both prices surged to more than three-month highs Tuesday of $84.25/b and $84.26/b, respectively.   

Dubai production is typically just three or four cargoes of 500,000 barrels per month but still plays an important role in the Dubai benchmark, which takes its name from the grade.

So far this month, two Dubai cargoes have been nominated in the Platts-administered MOC window, along with two Upper Zakum and one Oman cargo.

Premiums for medium sour barrels versus the underlying Dubai swap have improved sharply over the month, up from around just over +$1/b at the start of July to almost $2/b heading into the final week of the month.

Differentials for the key Dubai' basket' grades also act as a gauge for Official Selling Prices, prompting speculation Saudi Aramco could nudge up Arab Light premiums for September from the current Platts Dubai/DME Oman +$3.20/b on August-loading crude.

However, no decision is expected until after the OPEC+ group's Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) panel holds its online meeting on 4 August, while Saudi is also expected to outline September output targets by early August, having cut production by an additional 1 million bpd for this month and next.