Falling Murban and Dubai Prices Open Arbitrage to U.S. and Europe

Crashing prices of Middle East’s key benchmark crudes in the wake of the U.S.-Iran deal have opened arbitrage for shipping oil from the Middle East to the United States and Europe, traders told Reuters on Wednesday.

The earlier spot premiums of prices of the Dubai, Murban, and Oman crudes to swaps slumped into discounts this week after the market began pricing in an imminent reopening of the Strait of Hormuz following the tentative U.S.-Iran agreement.

As a result of weakening Middle East crude prices and discounts of spot supply, the arbitrage…