Gulf Oil Prices Drop In June

Brent crude dropped towards $96 a barrel on Monday as weak factory data from top energy consumer China spurred caution, after oil prices posted their fourth biggest daily gain on record in the prior session.

Factory downturn at the world’s second biggest economy worsened in June with export orders, which usually give a sense of economic health from major demand centres like North America and Europe, posting the biggest fall since December.

Brent crude fell $1.45 to $96.35 a barrel by 0346 GMT while U.S. crude shed $1 to trade at $83.96.

Dubai crude oil quoted by price-reporting agency Platts averaged $94.44 a barrel for June, down $12.87 from May, traders said on Monday.

The average is used as the basis for the Abu Dhabi and Qatari retroactive June official selling prices (OSPs), which are set as differentials to Dubai.

Oman crude oil quoted by Platts averaged $94.49 a barrel for June, down $12.88 from May, traders said. That would put the June Oman/Dubai average at $94.47, down $12.87 from May.

Qatar, one of OPEC’s smallest producers, has notified at least one Asian buyer that it will supply Marine and Land crude at full contracted volumes for August, unchanged from July levels, a trade source said on Monday.

The move was expected as Qatar has been supplying both grades to customers at full contracted volumes since 2009.

Qatar gave buyers an option of asking for cargoes to be 5 percent more or less than contracted volumes, the same as the previous month, the source said.