SINGAPORE, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Russian sweet crude rose in Asia on Tuesday as strong middle distillates margins lifted spot premiums. * TENDERS - Surgutneftgaz sold five cargoes of ESPO crude for loading in October-November at the highest premiums in three months on strong middle distillate margins, traders said. The cargoes were sold at premiums between $4.05 and $4.20 a barrel to Dubai quotes, the traders said. Trading firms Petrodiamond, Itochu and Glencore bought a cargo each, while Shell likely purchased two, they said. The 100,000-tonne cargoes will be loaded at the Russian Far East terminal of Kozmino on Oct. 8-12, 10-14, 17-21, 22-26 and Oct. 29-Nov. 2. * DRAGON AROMATICS - Dragon Aromatics plans to start up the largest condensate splitter in China in the fourth quarter of this year which will provide feedstock for the production of paraxylene, industry sources said. The splitter is part of a 200 billion yuan ($31.5 billion) petrochemicals complex in southern China Fujian province that includes a 4 million tonne-per-year (tpy) condensate plant and a 3.17 million tpy hydrocracker, the sources said. Dragon Aromatics will need to import more than 90,000 barrels per day (bpd) of condensate as well as atmospheric residue, straight-run fuel oil or vacuum gasoil (VGO) for the hydrocracker, two sources familiar with the situation said. Dragon Aromatics plans to buy its first condensate cargo for delivery at end October or in November for trial runs at the splitter, the sources said. * MARKET NEWS - Former civil war foes Sudan and South Sudan are to resume talks on Tuesday in Ethiopia that mediators hope will produce a deal to secure the volatile joint border and clear the way for the two countries to resume oil exports. - Libya is preparing to export the first post-war shipment of fuel oil from Ras Lanuf, the country's largest refinery, this week, a local shipping agent said. - Most of the oil refineries affected by Hurricane Isaac in the U.S. state of Louisiana were restarting on Monday, while nearly 60 percent of offshore crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico remains offline, according to U.S. government reports. CRUDE Price Prev Change OCT Brent 116.14 114.55 +1.59 OCT Brent/Dubai EFS DUB-EFS-1M 3.50 3.40 +0.10 PRODUCT CRACKS OCT fuel oil crack -5.58 -5.57 -0.01 OCT gasoil crack 20.14 19.91 +0.23 OCT naphtha crack -6.25 -6.11 -0.15 COMPLEX REFINERY MARGINS Today 7.16 Last 5 days 9.68 Last 365 days 7.38

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