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ME Crude Oils Fall; Saudi Light Prices May Decline

DUBAI - Middle East crude oils fell on expectations of rising supplies and declining processing profits reducing demand. Oman crude for immediate loading fell 44 cents, or 0.6 per cent, to $78.89 a barrel.

Dubai oil for loading in February dropped 53 cents, or 0.7 per cent, to $78.53 a barrel. Murban declined 0.6 per cent to $79.60 a barrel.

Saudi Arabian Oil Co., known as Saudi Aramco, may lower the official selling prices for its Arab Light grade, the country’s biggest export type, according to the median estimate in a survey by Bloomberg News of seven refiners in Asia that purchase long-term supplies.

Arab Light may fall by 5 cents a barrel for January with Extra Light declining by a similar amount, the refinery officials estimated. The country’s Medium oil may increase by 5 cents a barrel while its Heavy grade will climb by 13 cents.

The price changes may not help refiners. The margin from running Oman through a plant in Singapore capable of upgrading fuel oil into gasoline and diesel was minus $1.76 a barrel, according to netback calculations from Bloomberg and EnSys Energy.

Oman futures for February delivery fell 25 cents to $78.63 a barrel on the Dubai Mercantile Exchange at 5:35 p.m. Singapore time, with 578 contracts traded. The settlement price was set at $78.38 a barrel at 12:30 p.m. Dubai time.

The Brent-Dubai exchange for swaps for January narrowed 4 cents to minus 60 cents a barrel and the exchange for swaps for February narrowed 2 cents to minus 11 cents a barrel, according to data from brokers PVM Oil Associates. The exchange for swaps is the price difference between the Brent and Dubai swaps contracts.