front-month brent/dubai exchange of futures for swaps widened sharply mid-morning june 17, amid a flurry of trading activity, which continues to demonstrate the strength in the sour crude complex for the august-loading trading cycle.

　　the front-month brent/dubai efs was pegged at $3.69/b at 11 am singapore time (0300 gmt) on june 17, up 12 cents/b from the asian close on june 16, and on track to be assessed at the highest level since reaching $3.72/b on nov. 8, 2019, at the asian close, s&p global platts data showed.the brent/dubai efs is a key indicator of the spread between light, sweet and heavy, sour crudes, and a wider efs makes crude priced against dubai more economically attractive for asian refiners compared to brent-linked ones.

　　activity in the sour crude market continued to pick up pace, reflecting strong demand cues and the relative attractiveness of dubai-linked grades amid a wide brent/dubai efs.

　　initial talks indicated that the closely-watched qatar petroleum tender offering two 500,000-barrel cargoes of al-shaheen crude, was awarded at premiums of around $2.20/b and $2.60/b to platts front-month dubai crude assessments, fob.

　　”the market is at this range, pre-tender trades for al-shaheen were also around this level,” said a crude oil trader based in singapore.

　　also, russia’s surgutneftegaz sold via a tender three 700,000-barrel cargoes of espo blend crude loading in august, at premiums of around $3.60-$3.70/b to platts front-month dubai crude assessments. two of the cargoes were heard sold to a chinese end-user, and one was sold to a trading house, sources said.

　　”the premiums remain high but are within expectations, it is still the early trading period, maybe they will come n later,” said the trader.

　　at mid-morning in singapore, the august/september dubai time spread was pegged at 72 cents/b, n 3 cents/b from close on june 16, the data showed.

　　meanwhile, the september/october dubai time spread was pegged at 62 cents/b, up 1 cent/b from the previous day.