SINGAPORE: The Asia-Pacific crude market held steady on Tuesday as traders awaited results of ONGC's Sokol tender for price direction for Russian grades.
A wide Brent-Dubai EFS will likely continue to curb the flow of Atlantic Basin crude to Asia, providing support for Russian and Asia-Pacific grades, although this could be offset by slowing demand from China.
Traders eyed a rebound in demand from China once the country's independent refiners receive next year's crude import allocations.
The rising demand for crude oil has some Australian and Malaysian producers boasting cargoes valued at close to $70 a barrel, a hefty premium to global benchmarks.
Malaysia's Petronas sold last week a December-loading Miri Light cargo at a premium of about $4.50 a barrel to dated Brent, equivalent to about $69 at the latest prices, according to multiple traders that participate in the Asian regional crude market.
Australian Barrow Island and Cooper Basin crudes are now close to $70 a barrel currently, based on premiums for grades of about $1.50 a barrel to Malaysian benchmark grade Kimanis, said the traders. Kimanis itself is priced at a premium of about $4.40 a barrel to dated Brent, which was assessed at $64.07 a barrel on Monday by price reporting agency S&P Global Platts.
"Prices of domestic Australian grades are even higher than MCO (Malaysian Crude Oil)," an Asian trader said. "That would make them the most expensive crudes in the world."
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