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SINGAPORE: Middle East oil benchmarks Dubai and DME Oman have nudged above prices for Brent crude, an unusual move as US sanctions on Venezuela and Iran along with output cuts by OPEC tighten supply of medium to heavy sour oil.
Sour crudes, mainly produced in the Middle East, Canada and Latin America, have a high sulfur content and are usually cheaper than Brent, the benchmark for low-sulfur oil in the Atlantic Basin.
But Dubai spot prices and DME Oman crude futures for April have held above ICE Brent at Asia’s market close since the start of February, data from the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Dubai Mercantile Exchange and Refinitiv Eikon showed.
“The forceful implementation of US sanctions on Venezuelan crude exports, the greater-than-expected recent Saudi crude output cut ... and the uncertainty over US sanction exemptions on Iranian crude have all served to strengthen sour crudes relative to sweet benchmarks such as Brent,” said Tilak Doshi, a Singapore-based analyst at consultancy Muse, Stancil & Co.
US sanctions on Venezuela created a strong pull for medium and heavy sour crude from other places, said the traders and analysts.
The sanctions, aimed at blocking Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s access to the nation’s oil revenue, will be extended to non-US oil buyers from April 28.
Uncertainty over whether Washington will extend waivers to sanctions on Tehran’s oil exports that it previously granted to top Iranian crude buyers — China, India, Japan and South Korea — is also boosting Middle East oil prices.
A decision by OPEC and Russia to rein in oil output has buoyed sour crude prices as well.