Middle East Crude-Benchmarks rise for 2nd straight session

Middle East crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban nudged higher for a second straight session on Monday.

Qatar Energy has sold three August-loading Land crude cargoes via a tender at premiums of 20-30 cents a barrel to Dubai quotes, traders said. GS Caltex was awarded two cargoes and Idemitsu received the remaining one, they added.

Qatar Energy did not award the tender to sell Marine crude, traders said. Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical has bought 2 million barrels of Oman crude for August to September delivery. The premium is equivalent to about 50 cents a barrel on a free-on-board  basis, one source said.

Saudi floating storage and Singapore cash deals

About 10 Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) carrying about 20 million barrels of crude loaded from Saudi ports have been stationary for seven or more days off Egypt's Ain Sukhna, according to data analytics firm Vortexa.

Cash Dubai's premium to swaps rose 14 cents to 97 cents a barrel. Another three August-loading Oman cargoes were delivered on the window, bringing the month's total deliveries to 37. Unipec delivered two cargoes to PetroChina Hong Kong while Reliance will send a cargo to Totsa.