About 40 million barrels were nominated by Chinese refiners for January loading, down from about 46 million for December, trading sources said, the lowest nominated volume since August.
Aramco has notified some North Asian buyers that it will supply full contractual volumes in January despite Saudi Arabia's voluntary crude output cut commitment, sources said on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak publicly.
Saudi Arabia announced in early December that it will roll over its current voluntary cut of 1 million barrels per day (bpd) into for the first quarter of 2024 as part of efforts by OPEC+ producers to support oil prices.
While the kingdom's January official oil prices to Asia were set much higher than market expectations, prices for other similar grades have been assessed at much lower levels.
Spot premiums for medium sour Oman crude and light sour Murban crude have averaged around $0.50 to $0.60 per barrel over Dubai quotes so far this month, their lowest levels in almost three years.
A narrower spread between Brent- and Dubai-pegged oil makes hauling arbitrage cargoes from further afield more economical for Asian refiners, which also dampens demand for expensive Saudi crude.
Despite the high Saudi prices, refiners in other North Asian countries did not seek lower nominations, the people said.
"I believe many are thinking about reducing supply volumes. But it's not easy for us to do that. We need to maintain good relations with Saudi due to energy security concerns," one trader with a Japanese refiner said.
(Reporting by Muyu Xu; editing by Jamie Freed and Jason Neely)
By Muyu Xu
