Iraq raises November OSPs for Asia, trims Europe as court delays KRG ruling

Quantum Commodity Intelligence - Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization has raised Official Selling Prices for Asia in November while trimming Dated Brent-related premiums to Europe, according to a document sent to customers.

SOMO set the OSP for Basrah Medium, its primary export grade, to Asia at Platts Dubai/Oman +$1.70/b, compared to +$1.40/b for October, while Basrah Heavy to Asia was lifted to -$2.20/b from -$2.50/b.

The increases broadly followed the direction of the OSP cuts that Saudi Arabia announced last week. For medium and heavy barrels, 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.

Middle East OSPs, which include two months of market structure, widened as the key M1/M3 Dubai cash spread averaged $5.36/b in September compared to $4.89/b in August, according to Quantum data.

For Europe, which prices against Platts Dated Brent, Basrah Medium was cut by $0.20/b to -$9.20/b, while Basrah Heavy was cut $0.40/b to -$13.95/b and reflected the relative strength of the Dated Brent market. Kirkuk crude for Europe was down by $0.75/b to -$3.50/b.

Europe-bound Kirkuk crude was cut $0.10/b to -$3.60/b under the Dated Brent quote.

Basrah Medium bound for the US was up $0.10/b at -$2/b to the Argus ASCI benchmark, while Heavy was reduced by $0.45/b to -$6.05/b.

Exports

According to the Iraq Oil Report, Iraq's nationwide exports edged up to 3.692 million barrels per day (bpd) in September, a slight increase over 3.667 million bpd in August.

Federal government's exports averaged 3.292 million bpd, including 72,000 bpd from the Turkish port of Ceyhan — a partial recovery in northern exports from an August dip to 36,000 bpd. The semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) exported 400,000 bpd, according to tanker loading data obtained by Iraq Oil Report, up from 381,000 bpd the prior month.

The IOR also reported that a court in Baghdad has again delayed the federal government's lawsuits seeking to annul several of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government's oil contracts.

At a hearing last week, the court said cases would be postponed because many companies have not yet been served with summonses and because the court needs time to process a request by the KRG Ministry of Natural Resources.