SINGAPORE, March 16 (Reuters) - Asia-Pacific crude held steady with most grades to start trading next week following a flurry of sell tenders issued on Friday. The absence of South Sudanese crude and bad weather disrupting output in western Australia will continue to support sentiment although weaker gasoil and fuel oil margins and seasonal maintenance have depressed May premiums for Russian Sokol and Vityaz. Strong demand for Asia-Pacific crude have boosted premiums for medium and heavy sweet grades to record levels in April although it remained to be seen if the strength will continue in May given that production at some Australian fields are back to normal. * SUPPLY - Tropical storm Lua has not affected production at the Pyrenees and Van Gogh fields although Enfield, Vincent and Cossack remained shut. Three Pyrenees and two Van Gogh cargoes will be available for May. - Only four North West Shelf (NWS) condensate cargoes are available in May, one less than usual due to a brief planned maintenance. Woodside's cargo for early April lifting is still available. * TENDERS - Petral, the trading arm of Indonesia's state-owned refiner Pertamina, has bought Libyan El Sharara crude for the first time as it seeks to diversify the types of oil its refineries can process, trade sources said. Indonesia, one of the largest sweet crude buyers in Asia, has been purchasing oil from West Africa, Russia and even Qatar, reducing its reliance on declining output from within Asia. Petral bought 600,000 barrels of the Libyan sweet crude from a trader, they said. The price was not immediately available. - Sakhalin Energy has sold 730,000 barrels of light sweet Vityaz crude for May loading at a lower premium than the previous month, in line with other Russian grades, as weak refining margins and refinery maintenance reduced demand in Asia, traders said. Yet the spot premium for Vityaz did not fall as much as other Russian sweet crudes, Sokol and ESPO, since the naphtha-rich grade was supported by robust naphtha cracks. The cargo to be loaded on May 23-30 was sold, probably to a North Asian end user, at a premium of $5.70 a barrel to Dubai quotes, in the tender, they said. Following the deal, Sakhalin Energy sold another four Vityaz cargoes for May-June at premiums between $5.70 and $6 a barrel to Dubai quotes. - PV Oil offered four 300,000-barrel cargoes of Te Giac Trang (TGT) crude for loading on May 3-9, 12-18, 21-27 and May 30-June 5. The tender will close on March 26 with bids valid until a day later. - Petronas offered 300,000 barrels of Tapis crude for loading on May 9-15 and 300,000 barrels of Miri crude for May 20-30 in tenders that will close on March 19 with bids valid until a day later. - Murphy Oil offered 600,000 barrels of Kikeh crude for May 6-10 loading in a tender to close on March 20 with bids staying valid until evening. * MARKET NEWS - Britain is poised to cooperate with the United States on a release of strategic oil stocks that is expected within months, two British sources said, in a bid to prevent fuel prices choking economic growth in a U.S. election year. - Showa Shell Sekiyu KK, the largest buyer of Iranian crude in Japan, has yet to reach an agreement with Iran over the renewal of its annual term purchase contract as Western sanctions complicate talks, industry sources said on Friday. - Japan, South Korea and global ship insurers are lobbying EU officials to revise planned sanctions against Iran to allow Europe's insurance market to continue to cover Iranian oil shipments to Asia, government and industry sources said. CRUDE Price Prev Change % change MAY Oman diff to Dubai 2.73 3.23 -0.50 MAY Brent 123.42 124. -1.28 -1.03% 70 MAY Dubai 119.67 120. -1.15 -0.95% 82 May DME Oman 122.40 124. -1.65 -1.33% 05 MAY Brent/Dubai EFS DUB-EFS-1M 3.75 3.88 -0.13 PRODUCT CRACKS Price Prev Change APRIL fuel oil crack -5.83 -6.8 1.06 9 APRIL gasoil crack 15.59 15.5 0.04 5 APRIL naphtha crack -6.56 -7.1 0.63 9 COMPLEX REFINERY MARGINS Today 5.67 Last 5 days 4.94 Lat 365 days 7.83

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