SINGAPORE Oct 17 (Reuters) - Asia-Pacific crude prices fell on Monday as Russian light sweet Vityaz crude was sold at a lower premium than the previous month after naphtha cracks weakened.
* TENDERS
- Russia's Sakhalin Energy sold 730,000 barrels of Vityaz crude for Dec. 23-30 loading to a South Korean refiner at a premium of close to $6 a barrel to Dubai quotes on a cost-and-freight (C&F) Yosu basis, traders said.
The producer sold another three cargoes to end-users in Japan, South Korea and China at similar premiums after the tender was awarded.
Some traders said Vityaz's spot premium was still strong, despite being around 20 cents a barrel lower than for November, the highest level in four months, reflecting firm demand in Asia.
- Indonesian state oil regulator BPMIGAS has offered heavy sweet Duri crude for loading from December 2011 to May 2012 in a tender, a trader said.
The producer offered 200,000-400,000 barrels per month of Duri in the tender that closed at 0700 GMT, he said.
- More details emerged for Russian ESPO and Sudanese Dar Blend tenders. TNK-BP awarded an ESPO cargo each to JX Holdings and Chevron at similar premiums of around $6 a barrel to Dubai quotes, traders said, although this could not be confirmed.
- South Sudan awarded Dar Blend for November loading at $8-$9 a barrel below dated Brent, narrower discounts than the previous month on stronger fuel oil cracks, a second trader said.
* EFS
- Front-month Brent/Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS) for December fell 23 cents from Friday to $5.64 a barrel.
- For a graphic of the Brent/Dubai EFS curve, click here:
here
* MARKET NEWS
- Shell has restarted a second crude distillation unit (CDU) at reduced rates at its fire-hit Singapore refinery, a week after the first was partially restarted, three industry sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
It is also expected to restart its distillate-making hydrocracker at the 500,000 barrel-per-day plant, Shell's largest, within the next 2-3 days, they added.
- Norwegian oil firm DNO said it has redirected nearly a third of its crude production in Iraqi Kurdistan to sales in the domestic market to improve the "stability of its revenue stream" as Iraqi officials debate terms of its export contract.
- Australia faces an above-average number of cyclones over the coming storm season, meteorologists said, threatening new devastation after massive floods swamped homes, as well as destroying crops and crippling mining earlier this year.
- China's biggest offshore oil producer, CNOOC Ltd, has been hit by another oil leak in north Chinese waters, state media reported on Saturday, following a June spill at a field run with ConocoPhillips that sparked an official uproar.
- Venezuela has estimated an average price of $50 a barrel for its oil output in the 2012 budget, state media quoted an economic official as saying.
- China's apparent oil demand growth slowed further in the third quarter, largely in line with economic growth in the world's second-largest economy amid domestic policy constraints and global uncertainties.
* REFINERY MARGINS
- Complex processing margins for Dubai in Singapore were around $11.04 per barrel, up from an average of the last five days of $10.35, Reuters data show. Over the last year, the average margin has been around $7.89 per barrel.
* CRACK SPREADS
- Fuel oil's November crack widened $1.47 to a discount of $5.11 a barrel to Dubai crude.
- Gas oil's November crack fell 8 cents to a premium of $16.38 a barrel to Dubai crude.
- The naphtha CFR Japan front-month crack widened 88 cents to a discount of $9.84 a barrel to Brent.
* OUTRIGHT PRICES
- December ICE Brent LCOc1 was at $112.87 a barrel at 0830 GMT, up 87 cents from Friday. (Reporting by Florence Tan)
