SINGAPORE, Jan 10 (Reuters) - The Middle East crude market fell on Tuesday, as high official selling prices (OSPs) resulted in bids for March arrival Qatar Marine crude weakening from the previous month. Bids for the medium sour grade were seen at discounts wider than 20 cents a barrel, versus trades for February cargoes done at a discount of 10-20 cents a barrel, traders said. "Bids and offers are far apart at this point, so activity will probably be light until later in the week," said a Singapore-based trader. Sentiment for Abu Dhabi's Murban crude also stayed soft on relatively expensive OSPs, with offers staying at double-digit discounts. * SAUDI ALLOCATIONS - Top crude exporter Saudi Arabia will supply full contracted volumes in February to at least six Asian term buyers, with only one refiner probably taking the maximum volume permissible under contracts to capitalise on lower prices. * EFS - Front-month Brent/Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS) for February DUB-EFS-1M fell 44 cents from Monday to $3.18 a barrel. * OMAN ASSESSMENTS - March Oman traded on the DME edged up 1 cent to a premium of $2.18 to Dubai swap quotes at 0830 GMT, using the settlement price for DME futures, the ICE one-minute marker for Singapore and the Brent-Dubai EFS as calculated by Reuters. * MARKET NEWS - China's imports of crude oil and key industrial commodities proved resilient in December, with copper shipments bucking expectations and rising about 13 percent on the month to a record high. - China's crude import growth last year slowed to nearly a third of the blistering pace of 2010, as weaker economic growth that is likely to drag into the new year weighed on demand. - China's top refineries will start the new year with oil throughput near the annual high reached in 2011 as refiners run plants hard to ensure enough fuel supply to transport the biggest annual population movement in the world. - China's Premier Wen Jiabao will visit three key Middle Eastern oil and gas suppliers -- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar -- from the weekend, amid signs that Beijing wants to expand its options in the face of U.S. sanctions aimed at Iran. - OPEC will not get involved in the standoff between Iran and Western powers over its nuclear program, Venezuela's oil minister said on Monday during an official visit by Iran's president to Venezuela. - OPEC member the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is in talks with Oman about jointly building a refinery with its non-OPEC oil producing neighbour, the UAE's economy ministry said on Tuesday. * REFINERY MARGINS - Simple gross refining margins for Dubai in Singapore were at 81 cents per barrel, up from an average of the last five days of 46 cents, Reuters data show. Over the last year, the average margin has been about minus 86 cents per barrel. * CRACK SPREADS - Fuel oil's February crack narrowed $1.00 to a discount of $2.79 a barrel to Dubai crude. - Gasoil's February crack rose 26 cents to a premium of $18.92 a barrel to Dubai crude. - Naphtha's front-month crack gained $1.24 to a discount of $6.44 a barrel to Brent crude. * OUTRIGHT PRICES - February ICE Brent was at $113.05 a barrel at 0830 GMT, down 63 cents from Monday. - March Oman fell 22 cents to settle at $111.67. (Reporting by Francis Kan; Editing by Michael Urquhart)

Source