TotalEnergies (TTE) has bought a large volume of Middle East crude oil in February so far on a trading window that is contributing to the pricing of the regional Dubai oil benchmark, Bloomberg reported Friday citing traders and brokers.

The state-backed French oil major purchased 30 cargoes in February, with each cargo containing 500,000 barrels, using the platform run by S&P Global Energy (SPGI), the report said.

Mercuria Energy was the only other buyer in February with 10 cargoes, the report said.

TotalEnergies acquisition of the cargoes comes amid rising oil prices due to a possible US attack on Iran, the report said.

TotalEnergies and S&P Global Energy did not immediately reply to MT Newswires' request for comment.

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