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2025-12-15 18:38:48
[Middle East Crude Oil Under Pressure, Murban Premium Falls to Two-Week Low, Supply Growth Becomes Focus] ⑴ The Murban premium, the benchmark for Middle Eastern crude oil, continued its decline on Monday, hitting a two-week low, mainly due to ample supply of this type of oil and pressure from the prospect of increased production in the Middle East. ⑵ Meanwhile, news that Kazakhstan hopes to deliver new mooring points to the Caspian Pipeline consortium's Black Sea oil terminal ahead of schedule also strengthened market expectations of increased oil supply. ⑶ On Monday, premiums for Oman and Dubai crude oil were little changed, with the premium for cash Dubai to swap contracts rising slightly by 1 cent to 55 cents per barrel. ⑷ Trading in the Singapore spot market showed that several suppliers, including Equinor and BP, sold multiple lots of Upper Zakum crude oil for February loading to Glencore at a price of $61.25 per barrel. ⑸ Global shipping costs are likely to remain high in the first half of 2026 due to an aging fleet and an increase in vessels affected by Western sanctions, but freight rates may be limited in the second half of the year. China’s crude oil processing volume rose 3.9% year-on-year in November, with a new batch of crude oil import quotas offsetting the impact of some state-owned refinery maintenance.
