Middle East Crude-Benchmarks slip on Hormuz reopening hope

MITSUI & CO.

05/08/2026 11:47

SINGAPORE, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Spot premiums for Middle East crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban fell on Wednesday, with expectations of a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to release more supply.
U.S. President Donald Trump said his administration had "very good discussions" with Iran on Tuesday, fuelling expectations of an imminent end to the five-month conflict. 
Axios cited two regional sources and a U.S. official to report that the two countries are close to an interim agreement to reopen the strait with the agreement of Oman, which controls part of the key waterway. Washington was aiming for an announcement on Wednesday, the report said.
However, some of the hopes dented in late Asian trading hours after Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi rebels said they attacked a Saudi oil tanker in the Red Sea.

TENDER
Indian refiner Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals MRPL.NS bought 1 million barrels of Oman crude via a tender, three trade sources said on Wednesday.
The oil was bought at a premium of about $3 a barrel to the dated Brent contract, the sources said. One of them added that the seller was Mitsui & Co Energy Trading Singapore.
Separately, state-run Indian Oil Corp IOC.NS, the country's biggest refiner by capacity, purchased four million barrels of West African crude, the sources said.
The company bought Angolan Nemba, Saxi Batuque and Clov as well as Congo's Djeno crude, all from Chevron, the people said.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
Cash Dubai's premium to swaps fell 68 cents to $6.85 a barrel.
SELLER-BUYER
PRICE ($/BBL)
PETROCHINA-MERCURIA
79.30
UNIPEC-EXXONMOBIL
79.50

PRICES ($/BBL)

CURRENT
PREV SESSION
GME OMAN
79.16
83.51
GME OMAN DIFF TO DUBAI
6.51
8.04
CASH DUBAI
79.50
83.00

NEWS
Low-sulphur fuel oil supplies at Singapore have tightened on reduced output from refineries and declining sweet crude imports, trade sources and analysts said, driving up refuelling costs for shippers at the world's largest bunkering port.
West Africa-focused Tullow Oil TLW.L forecast annual production at the higher end of its forecast range on Wednesday and raised its free cash flow projection, encouraged by strong performance at its Ghana fields and better-than-expected oil price realisations.
China has further relaxed limits on refined fuel exports for a second month in August, five industry sources said on Wednesday, an unexpected move that facilitates the return of flows to pre-war levels.

For crude prices, oil product cracks and refining margins, please click on the RICs below.
  
Brent                    
BRENTSGMc1
Dubai                    
DUBSGSWMc2
GME Oman                 
OQc1
Brent/Dubai EFS          
DUB-EFS-1M

PRODUCT CRACKS
Fuel oil crack           
FO180SGCKMc1
Gasoil crack             
GO10SGCKMc1
Naphtha crack            
NAF-SIN-CRK 
Gasoline crack
GL92-SIN-CRK
Complex refining margins 
REF/MARGIN1

 (Reporting by Siyi Liu in Singapore;)
 ((siyi.liu@thomsonreuters.com;))
RECENT CRUDE OIL TRADES:
Asia ACRU/T  Europe CRU/T Americas CRU/TU
      
CRUDE OIL MARKET NEWS      
Crude oil tenders in Asia                       CRU/TENDA
Crude oil supply outages in Asia                CRU/OUT-ASIA-O      
Refinery outages in Asia                        REF/OUT-ASIA-O      
Global arbitrage news and flows                 O/CRUDEARB      
W.African crude imports to Asia,  monthly       O/WAFRICA1      
REFINERY MAINTENANCE DIARIES      
Asia REF/A   Middle East REF/ME   Europe REF/E      
                       
NATIONAL CRUDE IMPORT DATA      
Japan     METI/JP1   China   O/CHINA1      
India     O/INDIA2   S.Korea O/KOREA1      
Indonesia O/INDO1-CRU         
                       
CRUDE OIL INVENTORY DATA      
Japan O/JAPAN1  US EIA/S  Europe O/EUROIL1      
                    
CRUDE OIL PRODUCTION/OILFIELD NEWS      
OPEC output survey OPEC/O          New Africa fields    AFR/NEW 
New projects       ENERGY/NEW      New Americas  fields AM/NEW
CRUDE OIL MARKET REPORTS      
Middle East             CRU/MAsia-Pacific         CRU/AP      
West Africa             CRU/WAF  North Sea            CRU/E      
Asia outlook            ASIA/CRU Europe outlook       EUR/CRU      
Global futures report   O/R      Technicals report    O/I      
                            
PRICES      
For all Official Selling  Prices       OSP/O      
For a POLL on oil  prices              O/POLL      
NYMEX and ICE oil  futures             OILOIL      
TOCOM crude oil  futures               0#JCO:      
Dubai, Oman swaps and  spread          ASIA/SWAP/CRUDE      
Middle East physical crude diffs       CRUDE/ASIA2      
Australia physical crude, Tapis swaps  CRUDE/ASIA1      
Asia-Pacific physical crude            CRUDE/ASIA3      
All Asian crude oil  differentials     0#C-DIF-A
All Asian crude oil outright  prices   0#C-A