Middle East Crude-Benchmarks steady, supported by supply disruption

SINGAPORE, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Spot premiums for Middle East crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban held steady on Tuesday, at their highest level since late March, supported by supply disruptions.

Oil prices rose nearly 2% as concerns over supply disruptions lingered after attacks on Saudi Arabian energy infrastructure left the kingdom's East-West pipeline offline and cast doubt on efforts to ease shipping risks in the Gulf. O/R

Commodity vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz dropped to four a day on Monday, down from 10 a day earlier, preliminary data from Kpler showed on Tuesday, raising concerns about a route that carried about a fifth of global oil supplies before the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran kicked off on February 28.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai's premium to swaps fell 6 cents to $29.89 a barrel.

PRICES ($/BBL)

NEWS

China's fossil-fuelled power generation fell 4.3% in August from a year earlier, figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Tuesday, as rising hydropower, nuclear and renewable output cut into coal's share.

China's official data showed oil throughput rose for a second straight month in August, supported by strong fuel exports after Beijing eased export restrictions in mid-July, analysts said.

A drone hit a petrol station in Ukraine's capital of Kyiv early on Tuesday, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, just a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said Ukraine and Russia had agreed not to target each other's energy assets.

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