Middle East benchmark Oman crude firmed on Monday, gaining support from Thai purchases late last week, traders said. Dealings were expected to thin on Monday as many traders were away for holidays.
Traders said Thailand's Bangchak Petroleum PCL bought a February-lifting Oman cargo at a discount of 4 or 5 cents a barrel to its official selling price (OSP) in its monthly tender, which closed late last week.
The result was not confirmed by either the buyer or seller.
The level was higher than the previous February Oman cargo, which had been sold to another Thai company at a discount of around 10 cents a barrel.
February-lifting Oman was assessed at between a discount of 5 cents and a premium of 2 cents a barrel to its OSP, compared with Friday's assessment of a discount of 3-10 cents.
"Thai purchases are helping Oman. But for today, dealings seem thin, so prices shouldn't move much," Tokyo-based trader said.
The Brent/Dubai Exchange for Swaps (EFS) was valued at around $3.95/$4.00 a barrel for February, steady from Friday.
Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has awarded a tender to buy Bonny Light and Forcados crude for a one-year term to Vitol, traders said.
IOC will buy 970,000 barrels of Bonny Light and 980,000 barrels of Forcados every month from Vitol from March 2006 to February 2007. The prices for both grades were heard around parity to dated Brent per barrel, traders said.
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