SINGAPORE, Aug 23 (Reuters) -Middle East crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban closed the week at their highest premiums this month after Petronas sought to buy sour grades and as robust bids from Gunvor and Vitol led to the delivery of four cargoes on the window.

Petronas is in talks with sellers to buy Middle East crude loading in October for its joint-venture refinery with Saudi Aramco as the plant ramps up output, trade sources said.

The refinery, located in Malaysia's southern state of Johor, is increasing its crude processing rate this month, up from about 50% in July, some of the sources said.

Refining runs have been curtailed earlier due to maintenance at other refining units, including the atmospheric residue desulphurisation unit, they added.

A rise in output from the RAPID refinery will increase refined products supply in the region and weigh on refining margins, traders said.

It was not immediately clear how many October-loading cargoes Petronas will buy for PrefChem.

The RAPID refinery typically processes Oman and Qatari al-Shaheen crude in addition to long-term Saudi crude supply from Aramco.

OSP

Dubai has set its official crude differential for November at parity to DME Oman futures, the Dubai Department of Petroleum Affairs said on Friday.

ARBITRAGE

Chinese refiner Rongsheng Petrochemical has bought 1.65 million barrels of Canadian crude oil to be exported from the Trans-Mountain pipeline for delivery in November, including its first cargo of Kearl Lake crude, trade sources said.

The rare 550,000-barrel cargo of heavy sour Kearl Lake crude was sold by ExxonMobil, the sources said. One of them added that the cargo was sold at a discount between $5.50 and $6 a barrel to ICE Brent.

Rongsheng Petrochemical also bought two 550,000-barrel cargoes of Canadian Access Western Blend (AWB) crude from Totsa, the trading arm of TotalEnergies TTEF.PA, at discounts of $5-$6 a barrel to ICE Brent, the sources said.

Kearl Lake crude has an API gravity of 19.5 and contains 4.1% sulphur. It is also a highly acidic grade, similar to AWB.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai's premium to swaps rose 26 cents to $1.13 a barrel.

Gunvor will receive two October-loading Upper Zakum crude cargoes from Trafigura and ExxonMobil while Vitol will receive an Oman cargo from Trafigura and a Dubai cargo from BP.

PRICES ($/BBL)

NEWS

Owners of Philippine Tank Storage International are seeking to bring a strategic investor into the company that runs the biggest petroleum products import storage facility in the country, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

A Greek-flagged oil tanker carrying 150,000 tonnes of crude that was evacuated by its crew after being attacked in the Red Sea now poses an environmental hazard, the EU's Red Sea naval mission "Aspides" said on Thursday.

OPEC has received updated output compensation plans from Iraq and Kazakhstan, stating that they aim to make up for their overproduction in the first seven months of this year by September 2025, the producer group said on Thursday.

Chinese biofuel firm Zhejiang Jiaao Enprotech 603822.SS said on Friday its sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) unit has entered an investment deal with BP BP.L, the first alliance involving a global oil major in China's nascent green aviation fuel.

Polish refiner Orlen PKN.WA will make a decision on the future of its Olefins petrochemicals project by December at the latest, its chief executive said on Thursday, calling it a "trap" for the company and the Polish economy as a whole.

For crude prices, oil product cracks and refining margins, please click on the RICs below.

Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Eileen Soreng

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