At 11 am in Singapore (0300 GMT) on Wednesday, the spread between August Dubai cash and futures was notionally assessed at $1.76/b, a notch higher from $1.74/b at the close of trading in Singapore on Tuesday.
The spread is typically tracked by crude traders in Asia as a gauge of strength in the physical spot market for medium sour crude, with a large chunk of Middle East crude oil grades linked to Platts front-month Dubai crude assessments.
Meanwhile, the August Brent/Dubai EFS continued to hover in a narrow range of $3/b to $3.15/b as it has for the most part of the week. As of 11 am in Singapore, the spread was at $3.13/b, slightly higher than $3.04/b on Tuesday evening.
However, crude traders in Asia are likely to now shift focus to September spreads as the August-loading cycle comes to an end in the last week of June.
September Brent/Dubai EFS indications showed a significantly stronger picture for sour crude, with the spread notionally assessed at $2.79/b as of 11 am Wednesday in Singapore.
A narrower Brent/Dubai spread indicates that sour crude's discount to sweet crude has tightened, reflecting a relatively more bullish outlook for Dubai-linked grades.
Sour crude traders in Asia will also be mulling over next cycle's official selling crude prices that are released by producers of Middle East grades toward the beginning of every month.
With muted demand from China and ample supply of light crude flowing into Asia, buyers believed prices should be lower for the next trading cycle, they told S&P Global Platts this week.
Market stakeholders will be looking at the change in Dubai sour crude structure from May to June to provide a baseline for OSP's direction next month.
The Dubai cash to swap spread has averaged $2.06/b so far in June, down 31 cents/b from the $2.37/b averaged over May, Platts data showed Wednesday morning.
Platts assessed August cash Dubai at $63.35/b on Tuesday at 4:30 pm in Singapore.
