中东原油市场疲态尽显，亚洲买家“淡看”委内瑞拉变局

Group 1 - The Middle East oil market is showing signs of further weakness, raising concerns about a potential global supply surplus that could drive oil prices lower [1] - The price differential between Dubai benchmark crude and Brent crude futures has widened to its largest level since August, indicating ample supply [1] - The forward curve of Dubai swaps has returned to a "contango" structure, where near-term contract prices are lower than future contract prices, a typical bearish signal [1] Group 2 - Saudi Aramco has significantly lowered its selling prices to major Asian customers for the third consecutive month, pushing the price differential for its flagship Arab Light crude to a five-year low [2] - The current market conditions have alleviated concerns about U.S. intervention in Venezuela potentially disrupting oil flows from the South American country [2] - There is a notable lack of urgency among Asian buyers to purchase alternative Middle Eastern grades such as Iraq's Basrah crude [2] Group 3 - Approximately 8 million barrels of crude oil scheduled for shipment in February remain unsold, which is unusual as such supplies are typically sold by the end of December [3] - This backlog in sales indicates that it is the fourth consecutive month that Arabian Gulf crude has struggled to find buyers [3] - Historically, the region has been able to sell most of its oil offerings [3]