RTRS:Middle East Crude-Poor demand, heavy supply pressure prices
SINGAPORE, May 30 (Reuters) - Middle East crude benchmarks
eased on Wednesday versus week-ago levels as worsening refining
margins for gasoil and naphtha and a supply glut started to
pressure prices.
Abu Dhabi's July-loading Murban barrels was valued at a
discount of 35 to 40 cents to its official selling price (OSP),
according to traders, down around 5-10 cents from levels seen in
the previous session.
"Look around, there is no shortage of oil in the market,
even with refiners in Japan and South Korea looking for
alternatives to Iranian barrels," a trader said.
"And still we have cargoes not fully committed, you may have
some price differences between the various grades because of
specifications, but fundamentally this market is oversupplied."
The weak sentiment could continue in August amid ample
supply and weak demand for extra barrels from Asian refiners.
Murban has been weighed down by poor distillate processing
margins.
Asia's June gas oil crack eased four cents to $14.57 a
barrel to Dubai crude, while the July premium was 5 cents lower
at $15.33 a barrel.
The CFR July crack eased 14 cents to a discount of $11.41,
while the August discount widened $1.09 to a discount of $10.76
a barrel to Brent crude.
* MARKET NEWS
- Iraq started its fourth energy bidding round on Wednesday
to allow international companies to compete for exploration
deals on 12 new oil and gas areas, as the OPEC-member country
seeks to expand its crude reserves and become a major gas
exporter.
- Japan's crude imports from Iran fell 65.5 percent in
April from a year earlier, ahead of deeper declines that may
come from July due to the difficulty of doing business with the
Islamic Republic as Western sanctions bite.
- Japan's top oil refiner JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp plans
to refine 5.23 million kilolitres of crude oil in June for
domestic consumption, up 16 percent from a year earlier, a
company executive said on Wednesday.
CRUDE Price Prev Change
JULY Oman diff to Dubai swaps 1.51 0.72 0.79
JULY Brent 105.60 107.71 -2.11
JULY Dubai 102.33 104.29 -1.96
JULY DME Oman 103.84 105.24 -1.40
JUNE Brent/Dubai EFS DUB-EFS-1M 3.27 3.42 -0.15
PRODUCT CRACKS Price Prev Change
JUNE fuel oil crack -3.36 -3.97 0.61
JUNE gasoil crack 14.18 14.61 -0.43
JULY naphtha crack -11.02 -11.27 0.25
COMPLEX REFINERY MARGINS
Today 7.16
Last 5 days 6.73
Lat 365 days 7.53
