en.Wedoany.com Reported - On August 12, Argus, a global energy and commodities price reporting agency, launched price assessments for Abu Dhabi offshore crude oil under ship-to-ship delivery terms in the Gulf of Oman, covering Upper Zakum, Das, and Umm Lulu crude grades. The prices will be published daily in the Argus Crude service.
The new prices reflect transactions in which crude loaded from terminals within the Middle East Gulf is transferred via ship-to-ship operations to other tankers in the waters of the Gulf of Oman, outside the Strait of Hormuz. Argus will assess the relevant crude grades for the two forward loading months, publishing both premiums or discounts relative to Dubai crude prices and corresponding absolute prices.
Under the traditional trading model, the aforementioned Abu Dhabi offshore crude grades were primarily traded on a Middle East Gulf FOB basis, with buyers arranging tankers to receive cargoes at the loading ports. Following disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, some crude exports have shifted to offshore transfer operations, with spot trading activity increasingly concentrating in the Gulf of Oman. The existing FOB prices have become insufficient to fully reflect the new delivery location and trading terms.
Ship-to-ship transfers typically involve the original laden tanker, the receiving tanker, offshore operational arrangements, and a new delivery location. The new price assessments designate transfer in the Gulf of Oman as an explicit delivery condition, providing traders, refiners, and cargo counterparties with price references that correspond to the actual logistics route.
Upper Zakum, Das, and Umm Lulu are all major offshore crude grades exported by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. These three grades were previously priced primarily with reference to Murban crude and related Middle East benchmarks. As spot trading methods and delivery routes for Abu Dhabi crude have evolved, market demand has risen for price references linked to Dubai crude and for ship-to-ship transaction prices in the Gulf of Oman.
Argus stated that the new prices are an assessment tool launched in response to the intermittent closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the shift in trading liquidity, aimed at enhancing transparency in the Abu Dhabi offshore crude spot market. The relevant prices can be used for spot transaction comparison, contract pricing, inventory valuation, and risk management, but do not constitute official selling prices published by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
This adjustment to the price system also coincides with changes to Abu Dhabi's crude pricing mechanism. The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company previously announced that, effective November 1, 2026, the official selling price benchmark for crude grades including Murban, Das, Umm Lulu, and Upper Zakum will be adjusted to the spot-month Dubai crude quotation, bringing the pricing month closer to the actual loading month.
