SINGAPORE, June 27 (Reuters) - The Middle East crude market firmed on Friday as short-covering on the DME pushed up Oman's premium to Dubai quotes. Trade for August-loading barrels is winding down as most Asian refiners have bought sufficient oil. August differentials for Middle Eastern grades were lower than July on weak demand as refiners plan to process less crude on lacklustre margins. Exxon sold Banoco Arab Medium at a wide discount, likely about 50 cents a barrel to OSP, a trader said, although this could not be independently verified. "It was a distressed cargo. DME fell and the window was weak," he said. For Russian ESPO, Surgutneftegas has sold two cargoes via a tender at premiums higher than the last deal at $3.50 a barrel, although premiums are still nearly $1 lower than those fetched for early August cargoes sold at the start of this month. One of the cargoes loading on Aug. 21-25 was sold at a premium of about $3.70 a barrel while the Aug. 28-Sept. One cargo fetched a premium of about $3.90 a barrel to Dubai quotes, traders said. Buyers were not immediately known. Rosneft is expected to award four cargoes in a tender later on Friday. *DME OMAN DME Oman for August settled at $109.58 a barrel, down 36 cents by 0830 GMT. This puts DME Oman at $0.77 a barrel above Dubai swaps, against a premium of $0.65 a barrel in the previous session. *REFINERY Sri Lanka's sole refinery has been temporarily closed due to a damaged buoy at its unloading facility and the island nation is considering ship-to-ship transfer to ensure continued crude supply for refinery operations, the oil minister said. Singapore Refining Company (SRC), the smallest of three refineries in the city state, has shut some units for regular maintenance for 1-1/2 months, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Friday. *MARKET NEWS Russia's No.2 crude oil producer Lukoil expects oil production to peak at Iraq's giant West Qurna-2 oilfield in 2019 at 1.25 million barrels per day, a company official said. India made a $550 million payment to Iran on Thursday to partly clear pending oil dues, under an interim deal that allows Tehran access to $4.2 billion in blocked funds globally, industry and government sources said. Norwegian labour union SAFE has approved a wage deal with offshore oil producers, averting a strike at several offshore ExxonMobil XOM.N fields, which would have cut output, it said. Libya's oil output has risen to 300,000 barrels a day (bpd) after the El Feel field in the southwest increased production to 105,000 bpd, a spokesman for National Oil Corp (NOC) said. South Sudan's oil production is averaging about 160,000 barrels per day (bpd), slipping by about 5,000 bpd on numbers released last month, an oil ministry official said. For crude prices, oil product cracks and refining margins, please click on the RICs below.

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