Middle East crude moves higher, new Murban crude contract launched
Dubai, UAE (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) - Middle East crude oil prices moved higher Monday as uncertainty on the timeline for reopening the Suez Canal continued to cast a shadow over oil markets.
As of late Monday local time the stricken container ship had been refloated and traffic was expected to resume shortly, according to regional media reports. But oil markets are expected to remain volatile until the backlog of oil tankers navigating through Suez is cleared.
Dubai cash for May delivery was assessed at $63.05 per barrel on March 29 (16.30 Singapore time), up $1.00/b from Friday's Singapore close, while DME Oman futures for May were $0.66/b higher at $62.90/b.
Meanwhile, the new Murban futures crude oil contract traded for the first time in Abu Dhabi Monday.
The new Exchange was launched by Adnoc, the Intercontinental Exchange and their partners, which includes a number of leading traders and oil companies.
ICE Futures Abu Dhabi, or IFAD, will host the first light sweet crude in the Middle East, which has historically focused on heavier crude.
June Murban Singapore Marker price was $63.07/b, valuing it at around $0.50/b over cash Dubai.
Products
In the dirty product markets, higher sulfur cracks were lower and lower sulfur crack fuel oil were stable.
In the absence of cash deals, physical fuel assessments were marked slightly firmer on stronger swaps, which moved up around $1/mt along the curve.
April 180cst was up $1/mt to $372/mt, 380cst rose by the same amount to $367/mt and Marine Fuel 0.5% was $2/mt higher at $470/mt.
Middle distillate April cracks were both marginally firmer versus cash Brent, with gasoil 10ppm recovering from Friday's losses and marked at $3.22/b while Jet Kero was $0.20/b firmer at $0.9/b.
Cash moved up accordingly, again in the absence of any physical deals.
Naphtha cracks for April dipped back into negative territory, with April versus front month Brent at -$0.46/b versus $0.68/b a day earlier. With few physical deals, the cash was marked at a $4/mt premium to the April swap, which fell $3/mt on the day to $571/mt.
Gasoline was the big mover in terms of cracks on Monday, with the April crack versus front month Brent at $6.17/b - a near two week high.