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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Japan, India boost Oman crude imports in Dec

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Business Reporter


MUSCAT, JAN 15




China remained the largest buyer of Omani crude in December 2018, although Japan and India reported an uptick in imports, the Ministry of Oil and Gas said in its monthly report.


China accounted for 87.23 per cent of Oman’s total exports of 20.022 million barrels in December 2018, registering a decline of 4.41 per cent over the previous month. Japan and India, on the other hand, boosted their respective shares to 7.76 per cent and 5 per cent in December.


Oman’s production of crude oil and condensate in December 2018 topped 30.757 million barrels, representing a daily average output of 992,192 barrels for the month. Of this total, 20.022 million barrels were exported at the average daily rate of 645,890 barrels.


Crude oil prices witnessed a further decline during December 2018 futures trading compared with November 2018 for the major crude oil benchmarks around the world. The average price for West Texas Intermediate crude oil at the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) averaged $49.37 per barrel, declining by $7.44 per barrel over the previous trading’s month average. North Sea Brent mix ended at $57.88 per barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) in London, plummeting $8.07 per barrel in comparison with November 2018 figures.


Likewise, the average price of Oman Crude Oil Future Contracts at the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) witnessed a 13.5 per cent decline compared to the previous month. The official selling price for Oman Crude Oil during December 2018, for the delivery month of February 2019, settled at $57.33 per barrel, down $8.95 per barrel compared with November trading prices. The trading price ranged between $50.01 per barrel and $61.73 per barrel.


There were several factors deepened the downtrend in oil prices through December 2018 and badly affected trading settlements, the ministry said. To start with, the market negatively overreacted after US President Donald Trump appealed Opec not to reduce the production. In addition, the deterioration of global stock markets and the weakening of the dollar exchange rate, which put pressure on the dollar-denominated oil prices, contributed in global crude prices waning as well. Worse, the decline was also fuelled by market fears that Opec / non-Opec agreement to cut out by the beginning of 2019 for an initial period of six months, would not be sufficient to reduce the supply glut, the report added.



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