RTRS:Middle East Crude-Saudi Arabia raises OSP in line with expectations
SINGAPORE, April 4 (Reuters) - Top exporter Saudi Arabia
raised the latest official selling prices (OSP) for its grades
largely in line with expectations, pointing to a stable and well
supported June-loading market, traders said on Friday.
Saudi Aramco raised the May OSP of its flagship
Arab Light grade to Asia by 30 cents a barrel, setting it at
$1.85 per barrel above the Oman/Dubai average. The price of the
Arab Medium grade was also raised 30 cents a barrel, to 15 cents
below the same average.
The producer was expected to raise prices for four of its
five crude grades shipped to Asia because of stronger Dubai
values and on the back of an improvement in profits from
processing a barrel of crude into products.
Refiners and traders are awaiting latest OSPs from top
Middle Eastern exporters to gauge the outlook for June-loading
trade, expected to kick off towards the middle of this month.
Most expect the market to be supported as demand recovers with
refineries starting to come back online after maintenance.
*OSP
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) set for the first
time the OSP for Das crude, a blend of Lower Zakum and Umm
Shaif, at $107.25 a barrel for March. The producer plans to
start sales of the new crude by July 2014.
It set the retroactive selling price for its benchmark
Murban crude MUR-OSP at $108.30 a barrel.
*TENDERS
Sri Lanka's sole refiner Ceypetco is seeking four cargoes of
90,000 tonnes each of Abu Dhabi's Murban for delivery spread
across the month of June. The tender closes on April 8 and is
valid till April 11.
*DME OMAN
DME Oman for June settled at $103.23 a barrel, up $1.70, at
0830 GMT. This puts DME Oman at 69 cents a barrel above Dubai
swaps, up from a premium of 38 cents in the previous session.
*MARKET NEWS
Libya has seen evidence of "good intentions" at indirect
talks with eastern rebels which could lead to the lifting of
their blockage of major oil ports within days, a government
minister said.
Iran and six world powers began an expert-level meeting
about Tehran's nuclear programme on Thursday, part of efforts to
reach an agreement by late July on how to resolve a decade-old
dispute that has stirred fears of a Middle East war.
China is forecast to have grown at its slowest rate in five
years in the first quarter, a Reuters poll shows, with the slow
start to 2014 already prompting government action to steady the
world's second-largest economy.
The North Sea Brent crude oil production stream will load
about 116,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May, a trade source said
on Friday, down slightly from 120,000 bpd planned in April.
Rates for very large crude carriers (VLCCs) on the key Asian
freight route are set to hold steady at five-month lows next
week, with little improvement seen ahead for the rates until the
end of this month, ship brokers said.
For crude prices, oil product cracks and refining margins,
please click on the RICs below.
Brent
Dubai
DME Oman
Brent/Dubai EFS DUB-EFS-1M
