SINGAPORE: Trade on the Asia-Pacific market was muted on Thursday as traders focus on remaining sell tenders that are due to close in the coming days.
Deals for April-loading regional crude has been sluggish this month, with few privately-negotiated deals for Malaysian and Australian heavy sweet crude heard done, trading sources said.
"This month is already bad," a Singapore-based trader said referring to April-loading cargoes that are being forced to compete with cargoes that are being sold from floating storage in the region.
Demand for crude is also weaker in April because of peak turnarounds at North Asian refineries, the trader added.
Vietnam's state-marketer PV Oil will close its sell tender for April-loading Bunga Orkid and Bunga Kekwa crude on Friday. Bids entered will be held valid to Mar. 3.
Indonesian state-controlled Pertamina awarded its Mar. 17-18 Banyu Urip crude cargo to Vitol at a premium of around $6 per barrel to the grade's Indonesian Crude Price (ICP).
The deal level is equivalent to a premium of between $2.50 and $3.00 per barrel to dated Brent, traders said.
The grade, which is rich in middle distillates, is often imported by refiners in Thailand, India, Singapore and China.
Brent's premium to Dubai swaps, or Brent-Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS), was at $1.58 per barrel, down 7 cents for April.
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