Middle East Crude-Benchmarks fall; Aramco raises Jan OSPs for Asia

Middle East Crude-Benchmarks fall; Aramco raises Jan OSPs for Asia

SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks Oman and Dubai fell on Monday, tracking global oil futures O/R , while traders awaited the release of fresh official selling prices (OSPs) from major producers.Saudi Arabia's state oil giant Aramco has raised the January prices for all grades it sells to Asia, a company document showed. The January OSP for the flagship Arab light grade was set at $0.30 a barrel over Oman/Dubai, up $0.80 from December.ONGC has closed its first spot tender to sell a Sokol crude cargo loading Feb. 12-18 with bids valid until later on Monday.Trafigura offered a February-loading Sokol crude cargo at a premium of $1.55 a barrel to Dubai quotes via the market-on-close price assessment process, but did not attract any buyers.India's MRPL is seeking 1 million barrels of sour crude for delivery over Feb. 1-10 via a tender to be closed on Wednesday with bids valid till Friday.NEWSChina's November crude oil imports rose from a month earlier as customs continued to clear the backlog, although independent refiners slowed purchases as they reached their import quota limits. Oman has set up a new state energy company which will own part of the Gulf nation's largest oil block and be able