The front-month Brent/Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps, or EFS, spread widened slightly in midmorning Asia trade June 9 while Qatar Petroleum issued official selling prices for its July-loading crudes.
The August Brent/Dubai EFS spread was pegged at $3.34/b at 11 am (0300 GMT) in Singapore on June 9, widening 10 cents/b from the Asian close June 8, S&P Global Platts data showed.
The Brent/Dubai EFS is a key indicator of the spread between light, sweet and heavy, sour crudes, and a wider EFS makes crude priced against Dubai more economically attractive for Asian refiners compared with Brent-linked ones.
Qatar Petroleum issued official selling prices for its Land and Marine crude grades for July, according to a notice on its website seen June 9.
The producer raised the price of Marine crude by 15 cents/b from June while raising the price of Land crude by 20 cents/b.
Strong demand cues were reflected in strengthening of the sour complex over the past few days, traders said. However, market participants said a natural correction in structure was on the cards as trade for August-loading crude was yet to commence.
Platts assessed August cash Dubai at a premium of $1.66/b to the same-month Dubai futures at the Asian close on June 8, down 16 cents/b from the previous day.
“People think the market just reached a peak. A bit too high from last month [already],” said a trader with a north Asian refinery.
At midmorning trading in Singapore, the August/September Dubai time spread was pegged at 57 cents/b, widening 5 cents/b from the close June 8, the data showed.
The September/October Dubai time spread was pegged at 52 cents/b, widening 6 cents/b from the previous day.
Source: Platts
