The UAE seems set to refrain from offering extra crude oil for the first time in 10 months, traders have said, as refiners waited for overdue notices on supply volumes for February.

Term lifters of Abu Dhabi crude have not yet been informed of their allocations for February — more than a week later than the UAE normally tells its customers — and this was read as a sign of little if any extra supply of crude available.
“We haven’t received any notification so far. No notice usually means a 100 per cent allocation,” a Japanese refiner said.
Opec’s decision to cut production by one million barrels per day (bpd) in January and a conveniently timed maintenance at Abu Dhabi National Oil Company's onshore Murban oilfield are behind the reduction in spot volumes.
Oil refiners were unperturbed by the lack of spare barrels.
“I don’t think they will cut allocations but there might not be extra volumes,” one lifter said.
February-loading Murban crude has so far traded at a discount of between 45 and 30 cents per barrel to Adnoc quotes so far, traders said, despite prospects of
smaller term volumes for February than for the past few months.
In 2004, the extra volumes had occasionally topped 100,000 bpd, or three million barrels per month, due to low seasonal demand for the kerosene-rich crude.
Adnoc last cut term volumes in April, following maintenance on its Das Island offshore facilities that produce Umm Shaif and Lower Zakum crudes, and in line with an Opec move at the time to rein in overproduction.
This time, Murban crude production will be scaled back in February during scheduled repairs at a gas facility, industry sources said earlier in December.
Output at the 1.2 million-bpd field could be cut by up to 100,000 bpd, or 2.7 million barrels over the month, traders said.