A 500,000 barrel of March-loading Al Shaheen crude cargo was declared in the Platts Dubai Market on Close process on Monday, the first day the grade was included in a basket of crudes reflected in Platts benchmark Dubai crude oil prices.
Unipec declared the cargo to ChinaOil after selling its 20th cash Dubai partial to ChinaOil at $32.40 per barrel.
Platts earlier on Monday said it was moving ahead with immediate effect with inclusion of Al Shaheen and Murban in its Dubai and Oman crude oil benchmarks.
Platts Dubai crude assessments will reflect bids, offers and expressions of interest to trade in Dubai partials where the buyer would be willing to take delivery of 500,000 barrels of Al Shaheen or destination-free Murban, as well as the possible deliveries of Dubai, Oman and Upper Zakum already possible in the Platts assessment process, Platts said in a note to subscribers.
Platts Oman assessments will reflect bids, offers and expressions of interest to trade in Oman partials where the buyer is willing to take delivery of destination-free Murban crude oil, as well as the possible delivery of Oman Blend itself.
Bids, offers and expressions of interest to trade for all other partials in the MOC – Dubai, Upper Zakum, and Murban itself – will all also be considered for publication only when the buyer is willing to take delivery of destination-free Murban crude oil upon convergence.
Under the crude partials trading mechanism, two companies must trade a physical cargo when a total of 20 Dubai partials have been exchanged during the same month in the MOC process. The seller has the option to declare delivery of Dubai, Oman, Upper Zakum, Al Shaheen or Murban crude upon convergence of the 20 Dubai partials.
The buyer must accept the cargo nominated to it.
