On 21 October, Brent settled at $108.32/bbl (-0.43%) and WTI at $97.17/bbl (-0.67%), marking a second consecutive lower close for both benchmarks. Over the same window the yuan firmed past 6.68, with USD/CNY ending at 6.6756 (-0.43%), shaving the RMB landed cost of imported crude.

SNSUC prices its external crude quotes with the formula Brent x FX x 7.33 x grade, pegged to live market data. Plugging in today's figures: 108.32 x 6.6756 x 7.33 = approximately 5,300/t CNY at the base grade (coefficient 1.0). Against the roughly 5,462/t CNY seen on 20 October (Brent 111.63, USD/CNY 6.678), the benchmark dropped about 162/t CNY in a day.

The seven grade coefficients keep the delivered-cost spread alive: ESPO 0.985 = 5,221/t CNY, Oman 0.995 = 5,274/t CNY, Urals 0.965 = 5,115/t CNY, Basrah Light 1.010 = 5,353/t CNY, Bonny Light 1.015 = 5,380/t CNY, Lula 0.975 = 5,168/t CNY. With the whole curve lower, the margin and bank-line usage booked against cargo value when opening back-to-back letters of credit move down too, most visibly for high-coefficient grades like ESPO and Lula.

For the operator the lower benchmark is not a price-cut signal but a repricing anchor: downstream refiners will bid off the new figure, so SPV contract prices must be refreshed to avoid stale 5,462/t CNY numbers lingering in live negotiations.