Sour crude spreads steady as traders digest Asia OSP hikes.

Petrotahlil :At 11 am in Singapore (0300 GMT) Friday, Dubai futures spreads held near Platts Thursday's assessments, with November/December notionally pegged at $1.08/b compared with the assessed $1.07/b. Similarly, the spread for December/January Dubai futures was pegged at 97 cents/b Friday morning, moving a notch up from 93 cents/b assessed at the 4:30 pm Asian close in Singapore (0830 GMT) on Thursday.

Late Thursday, Saudi Aramco announced that it had raised the OSPs for its five crude grades loading in November and bound for Asia by 20-70 cents/b. It raised the November OSP for its flagship Arab Light grade by 70 cents/b to $3.00/b above the average of Oman and Dubai crudes.

The company also raised the November prices for its Extra Light and Super Light grades by 70 cents/b and 20 cents/b, respectively, to $3.60/b and $4.35/b over the benchmark.

Traders and refiners in Asia had called for Aramco to soften any price hikes in lieu of attacks at its key oil infrastructure last month, which heavily impacted supply side sentiment for Arab Light and Arab Extra Light crudes.

The December Brent/Dubai Exchange Futures for Swaps spread widened slightly, but remained under its key $3/b threshold for Friday morning, when it was pegged at $2.96/b and up from $2.87/b that was assessed Thursday evening in Asia.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. raised the OSPs for its four crude oil grades that loaded in September by $2.55-$3.00/b from August, according to a company notice issued Thursday evening.

The Murban OSP was at a premium of $4.09/b over Dubai crude assessments in September, up 90 cents/b month on month. A survey of market participants across Asia by Platts had given an estimate of an increase of at least $1/b.

The December Dubai cash/futures spread was assessed at $2.54/b at 4:30 pm in Singapore Thursday, down from $2.58/b assessed a day ago.

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