SINGAPORE Jan 30 (Reuters) - Traders in the Asia-Pacific crude market on Monday eyed supply disruptions from Sudan and Australia while waiting for the result of a buy tender from Indonesia, one of the largest buyers in the region, for demand cue. * SUDAN - Sudan released tankers loaded with South Sudanese oil that had been held at Port Sudan, in a row over export transit fees, days after Khartoum seized crude from its new neighbour and offered it at a steeply discounted price. "The four ships that were being detained were released yesterday at 5:00 p.m.," South Sudan's Minister of Petroleum and Mining Stephen Dhieu Dau said by telephone. "They were carrying oil for Vitol and Sinopec." He added that 3.5 million barrels have been released but Sudan should now allow 5.4 million barrels to be lifted, indicating that the dispute was far from resolved. South Sudan has totally shut down oil output and will only restart after it reaches a deal with Khartoum covering border security and the disputed Abyei region, its oil minister said on Sunday. - The shutdown in Sudanese oil supply could drive up already record premiums on spot crude markets as top Sudan customers China and Japan scramble for alternatives even as they weigh the impact on oil flows of international sanctions on Iran. Before the shutdown, China imported most of South Sudan's crude, bringing in around 260,000 bpd in 2011, according to Chinese customs data. That loss, in addition to cuts China has made in imports from Iran as Beijing and Tehran bicker over contract terms, has left China looking for alternatives equivalent to around 10 percent of its imports, or around 545,000 bpd. Compounding problems for China is Japan's additional demand for crude. The world's third-largest oil consumer has been regularly snapping up the bulk of medium to heavy sweet crude from Vietnam and Indonesia, leaving little for the spot market. The supply disruption has added to the rally for Asia-Pacific crude, boosting spot premiums for March to a record. It could drive prices even higher -- although any rise may be tempered by refinery maintenance in the second quarter. * AUSTRALIA - Producers are gearing up for the restart of oil production at offshore fields in Northwest Australia as Tropical Storm Iggy began to weaken. The production stoppage, lasting nearly six days, will delay loading programmes of crude in February and March. Apache Corp. said it was remobilising operations personnel as the storm began to weaken close to its operations in Northwest Australia. "The Van Gogh and Stag oilfields remain shut in, but are being readied for restart as soon as weather conditions allow," an Apache spokesman said. * EFS - Front-month Brent/Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS) for March DUB-EFS-1M rose 16 cents to $2.69 a barrel. * MARKET NEWS - Iran sent conflicting signals in a dispute with the West over its nuclear ambitions, vowing to stop oil exports soon to "some" countries but postponing a parliamentary debate on a proposed halt to crude sales to the European Union. - Japanese refiner TonenGeneral Sekiyu KK said on Monday its decision to buy out a controlling stake in it held by U.S. oil major ExxonMobil for nearly $4 billion was not triggered by Tokyo's moves to force industry re-alignment. - Russia, which lacks spare capacity to step in with extra oil if Iranian crude supplies are cut, can increase exports by about 100,000 barrels per day this year, its deputy energy minister said, roughly in line with expected output growth. - Indonesian state oil and gas company PT Pertamina plans to build a crude oil storage terminal in Kalimantan, worth $450 million and with a storage capacity of 25 million barrels, the firm said. * REFINERY MARGINS - Simple gross refining margins for Dubai in Singapore were at $2.27 per barrel, up from an average of the last five days of $2.81, Reuters data show. Over the last year, the average margin has been about minus 74 cents per barrel. * CRACK SPREADS - Fuel oil's February crack fell $1.23 to a discount of 43 cents a barrel to Dubai crude. - Gasoil's February crack gained 27 cents to a premium of $18.43 a barrel to Dubai crude. - Naphtha's front-month crack narrowed 77 cents to a discount of $3.62 a barrel to Brent crude. * OUTRIGHT PRICES - March ICE Brent was at $111.37 a barrel at 0830 GMT, up 72 cents from Friday. (Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Manash Goswami)

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