Brent settled at $112.104 and WTI at $103.493, pulling the two-crude spread back to $8.611. Three days earlier the gap was $13.539 — a near-$5 compression that signals the Atlantic-basin light sweet premium is fading.

For SNSUC's seven transshipment grades, a tighter spread rewrites the CIF math. Discounted barrels such as ESPO and Urals are quoted off Brent or Dubai, with freight and insurance booked separately for the STS transfer at the Sohar or Fujairah anchorage. Official-priced grades like Oman and Dubai follow the OSA monthly average plus a premium. The narrowing does not move the load port; it only shrinks the lock-in room for hedges benchmarked to WTI.

On the trading desk, today's Basrah Light and Bonny Light quotes still use the CIF Long Beach / Qingdao basis with freight and insurance on the buyer. Lula carries a long South-America-to-Far-East haul, so freight dominates and the spread move is diluted in the final CIF number. Re-run the spread-sensitive lines — ESPO and Urals — at $8.6 rather than last week's $13 assumption.