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Sources say that Asia is increasing its imports of US WTI oil as Middle East prices increase.

Trade sources say that Asia will increase imports of U.S. West Texas intermediate crude in the fourth-quarter after Middle East oil price increased and opened arbitrage window.

They said that the price gap between light-sweet U.S.WTI oil and Middle East crude benchmarks Dubai & Murban has narrowed this month due to robust demand in Asia for high-sulphur oils.

WTI's Arbitrage to Asia has been open for the last week for cargoes that arrive in early November. This was stated by June Goh, senior analyst at Sparta Commodities.

Sources said that U.S. oil producer Occidental sold WTI crude oil to Japanese refiner Taiyo Oil. One source said that the cargo was sold for a premium of $3.50 per barrel over October Dubai prices, and would be delivered in October.

A Singapore-based trader stated that WTI crude oil could be sold at a price 50-75 cents per barrel less than Murban oil of similar quality to North Asian refiners, depending on the suppliers.

Two other traders claim that WTI is 30 cents less expensive than Murban light-sour grade.

The trade is also enabled by the falling costs of a large crude carrier that can send 2,000,000 barrels from the Gulf Coast in the United States to Asia.

The daily tanker rates of SSY on LSEG Workspace show that the costs for a VLCC shipping U.S. crude oil to China, Singapore, and West Coast India dropped by $200,000 on Wednesday to $6.5, $5.5, and $5.35, respectively.

Sources confirming the benchmark said that Murban's supplies have also been tightened as Abu Dhabi National Oil Co has reduced its exports of its flagship grades by diverting oil to its own refinery.

Goh stated that "we anticipate more Asian buyers will secure WTI cargoes, especially as Murban looks expensive while taking the opportunity to diversify their portfolio against AG (Arabian Gulf crude)."

She said that the threat of U.S. president Donald Trump to impose secondary duties on countries who buy Russian oil also supports Middle East crude price. Indian refiners will look to purchase oil from Gulf to replace Russian supply, she added.

Trump shortened the deadline by which Moscow must make progress in a peace agreement with Ukraine or face secondary tariffs of 100 percent for its oil customers within 10 to 12 business days. This reflects his growing frustration over Russia's actions.

China, India, and Turkey are the main importers of Russian crude. Reporting by Florence Tan in Singapore and Siyi LIu in Houston, Arathy Sommesekhar at Houston; editing by Tom Hogue and Philippa Fletcher

(source: Reuters)