RTRS:Middle East Crude-Qatar cuts OSPs as expected
SINGAPORE, April 8 (Reuters) - The Middle East crude market
held steady on Tuesday as traders waited for more Gulf producers
to release monthly official selling prices (OSPs) which will
help gauge the price direction for June loading cargoes to trade
this month.
Qatar has cut the OSPs for Marine and Land crude for March.
The latest OSPs put Qatar Marine's premium to Dubai quotes at
$0.68 a barrel, down $0.78 from a month earlier, and Qatar
Land's premium to Dubai at $2.93, down 98 cents. The price cuts
were in line with expectations, traders said.
Kuwait, Iran and Iraq have yet to inform buyers of their
monthly prices.
Last week, Saudi Arabia raised prices for all grades while
ADNOC reduced the March premiums to Dubai for all grades by
78-98 cents a barrel, bigger cuts than expected from the
previous month.
Asian refiners may be encouraged to lift more Abu Dhabi term
supply after the price cuts, traders said, adding this could
reduce ADNOC's stockpiles which have risen due to low demand.
In the trading window, Shell sold five Dubai partials to
Glencore and Mercuria at $103.15-$103.20 a barrel. Shell will
deliver an Oman cargo each to Glencore and Mercuria following
the deals.
*DME OMAN
DME Oman for June settled at $103.28 a barrel, up $0.91, at
0830 GMT. This puts DME Oman at 75 cents a barrel above Dubai
swaps, up from a premium of 72 cents in the previous session.
*MARKET NEWS
Saudi Arabia produced 9.566 million barrels per day (bpd) of
crude oil in March, down from 9.849 million bpd in February, an
industry source familiar with the matter said.
Kuwait's state oil group has signed contracts to supply
Egypt with 85,000 barrels of crude oil per day and 1.5 million
tonnes of diesel and jet fuel per year, state news agency KUNA
reported.
Libya's Zueitina oil port prepared on Monday to load crude
into tankers after the government reached a deal with rebels to
reopen four terminals that insurgents have occupied since the
summer.
Colombia's state-run Ecopetrol SA has declared
force majeure on a small number of deliveries of medium Vasconia
crude after the Cano Limon-Covenas pipeline was damaged by a
series of attacks by leftist guerillas, a press official said.
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