Middle East Crude-Benchmarks fall; Saudi OSPs eyed

Middle East crude benchmark spot premiums of Oman, Dubai and Murban fell on Tuesday, as ample supplies weighed and trading activity remained relatively light.

The market is awaiting Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, to release its official selling prices for December, and a price cut is expected by Asian refining sources.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai's premium to swaps fell 45 cents to $1.44 a barrel.

PRICES ($/BBL)

NEWS

Oil major BP BP. reported a smaller-than-expected fall in third-quarter underlying profit on Tuesday as higher refining margins partly offset the impact of lower crude prices.

Saudi oil company Aramco 2223 reported a 2.3% decline in quarterly profit on Tuesday, citing a drop in crude and product prices, but performance improved from the previous quarter as oil production rose.

After starting up operations at four new refining and chemicals initiatives this year, Exxon Mobil XOM is surveying more opportunities to revamp other sites, an executive told Reuters in a recent interview.

Venezuela's oil exports declined 26% to some 808,000 barrels per day in October as the country's stocks dwindled and it imported smaller volumes of diluents to produce exportable crude grades, according to shipping data and documents from state firm PDVSA.

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