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Keep an eye on Dubai

Dubai physical premium is soaring, Keystone XL pipeline is back on, Panama Canal traffic is dropping and China prepares more fiscal support.
Published: August 21, 2026
Written by:
Will Cunliffe

Will Cunliffe

Research Analyst, The Officials
Will Cunliffe
and
Edward Hayden-Briffett

Edward Hayden-Briffett

Research Analyst, The Officials
Edward Hayden-Briffett
Reviewed by:
Jorge Montepeque

Jorge Montepeque

Head of Benchmarking, The Officials
Jorge Montepeque
Edition: Asia EditionVolume: 3Issue: 159
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Dubai physical premium is soaring, Keystone XL pipeline is back on, Panama Canal traffic is dropping and China prepares more fiscal support.

Prices are embedding themselves in the low-$90s, calming down from the jump earlier this week. Dubai continues to strengthen, gaining even more against Brent. The Sep Brent/Dubai swap keeps dropping as a result, falling towards $3.40 this morning – it was well above $6 at the start of August. But today’s Dubai window hardly got running, with only two trades. Unipec sold two partials, one apiece to Mercuria and BP, but could not muster the same defence as yesterday. As such the cohort of BP, Phillips, Mercuria, Petco and Vitol raised bids unimpeded until the close. Consequently, the physical premium was free to soar, it surged just over $2/bbl to $14.36/bbl – the highest assessment since late May! Flows are constrained and China is buying more, so structures are strengthening.

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The Officials publish outright values, spreads, cracks and boxes for the main energy commodities traded in the marketplace. The published values are determined independently and on a fair market basis by our team of dedicated professionals.

We invite you to read our reports, which are published twice a day, reflecting closing values at 16:30 Singapore time (SGT) and at 16:30 London time (GMT/BST). For any comments, please reach out to us through the emails provided in the signed documents.

Written by

Will Cunliffe

Research Analyst, The Officials
Will Cunliffe

Edward Hayden-Briffett

Research Analyst, The Officials
Edward Hayden-Briffett

About Asia Edition

Benchmark reports published at the close of the trading day in Asia.

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