Dubai crude premium drops as sellers flood TotalEnergies

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Dubai crude premium drops as sellers flood TotalEnergies

March 27, 2026

DUBAI,— Spot premiums for Dubai crude dropped sharply on Thursday to their lowest level in three weeks as more sellers entered the market and increased offers, while TotalEnergies remained the only active buyer, traders said, with data compiled by Reuters supporting the move.

The premium for the Middle East benchmark, which prices millions of barrels of oil shipped to Asia, fell to about 17 dollars per barrel by the close of trading.

That marked a decline of more than 60 percent from 51.20 dollars per barrel in the previous session, reflecting strong price volatility linked to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Sellers including Unipec, Vitol, Shell and BP began offering Dubai crude roughly an hour before the official trading window opened, three traders said. One trader said the early start gave sellers extended time to keep pushing prices lower through continuous offers.

The same trader said Totsa, the trading arm of TotalEnergies, entered the market but did not attempt to counter the selling pressure in an aggressive manner.

Totsa has been the sole buyer of Middle East crude in the Platts pricing window, purchasing 69 cargoes of Oman and Murban crude so far this month, equal to about 34.5 million barrels, according to trade data.

TotalEnergies could not be reached for comment outside office hours and had earlier declined to comment on its Dubai trading activity.

Dubai premiums had surged to about 65 dollars per barrel last week after S&P Global Platts excluded three of five crude grades due to expected disruption in shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

The earlier price surge led some Asian refiners to avoid spot purchases from the Middle East and instead buy crude from Europe, Africa and the Americas.

(With files from Reuters)