Middle East oils for sale to Asia climbed to near their highest in three years as refining margins remained higher than last year, spurring demand for crude. Murban for July loading, produced in Abu Dhabi, climbed 8 cents to a premium of 81 cents a barrel to its official selling price, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. June cargoes reached a premium of 86 cents last month, the most in three years. Lower Zakum, also produced in the emirate, advanced to the same level. Qatar Marine gained 10 cents to a premium of 38 cents a barrel. Middle East crudes have been supported by a surge in refining profits for middle distillates including gasoil and kerosene. The profit from processing Qatar Marine in a plant capable of upgrading fuel oil into gasoline and diesel was at $2.30 a barrel today, according to netback calculations by Bloomberg and EnSys Energy. That’s up from the six-month average of $1.71. It reached $5.50 on May 6. Oman oil for immediate loading fell 76 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $107.13 a barrel, according to Bloomberg data. Dubai for loading in July decreased 0.7 percent to $106.53 and Murban crude climbed 0.6 percent to $112.03 a barrel. The Brent-Dubai exchange for swaps for June narrowed 14 cents to $6.33 a barrel, PVM data showed. The exchange for swaps for July fell 11 cents to $6.17 a barrel. Oman futures for July delivery fell $1.45 to $107.35 a barrel on the Dubai Mercantile Exchange at 5:32 p.m. Singapore time, with 1,001 contracts traded. The settlement price was at $107.25 at 12:30 p.m. in Dubai. To contact the reporter on this story: Christian Schmollinger in Singapore at christian.s@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net.

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