SINGAPORE: The Asia-Pacific crude oil market remained steady on Wednesday as most of September-loading barrels have been sold while traders await trading for October to kick-start.
The regional market is expected to remain well supported due to firm naphtha and middle distillates margins, a Singapore-based oil trader said.
MALAYSIA
Malaysia has lowered the official selling price of a basket of July-loading Malaysian crude oil grades to $78.20 a barrel, Petronas said in a document reviewed by Reuters on Wednesday.
The July price for the basket of Malaysian crude oil, which includes Labuan, Miri Light, Kikeh and Kimanis Blend, was reduced by 3 cents per barrel.
INDONESIA
Indonesia has decided Pertamina will take over operation of the Rokan oil block, the country's second-biggest crude producing field, once Chevron's operating contract there expires in 2021, Deputy Energy Minister Arcandra Tahar said late on Tuesday.
A proposal made by Chevron for an extension of its contract after 2021 was "far below" an offer made by Pertamina, Tahar told reporters at a press conference, referring to a comparison of projections of state revenue and other terms proposed by both companies.
This is expected to have a limited impact on exports of crude oil from the field as increasing oil exports from the United States could replace these barrels, a crude oil trader said.
BRENT-DUBAI EFS
Brent's premium to Dubai swaps <DUB-EFS-1M> was at $2.04 per barrel, up 4 cents for October.
NEWS
US crude stocks rose unexpectedly last week, while gasoline inventories decreased and distillate stocks built, industry group the American Petroleum Institute said on Tuesday.
Crude inventories rose by 5.6 million barrels in the week to July 27 to 413.2 million, compared with analysts' expectations for a decrease of 2.8 million barrels. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 930,000 barrels, API said.
Oil prices are likely to hold fairly steady this year and next as increased output from OPEC and the US meets growing demand led by Asia and helps to offset supply disruptions from Iran and elsewhere, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.
A survey of 44 economists and analysts forecast Brent crude LCOc1 to average $72.87 a barrel in 2018, 29 cents higher than the $72.58 projected in the previous month's poll and above the $71.68 average so far this year.
China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) said on Wednesday its first-half overseas equity oil and gas production rose 7.3 percent from the same period a year earlier, with profit from those operations increasing "substantially".
Pertamina has approached the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (Socar) and Japan's JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp for possible partnerships to upgrade Indonesia's Balikpapan oil refinery, a Pertamina director said on Wednesday.
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