SINGAPORE: The Middle East crude market stayed firm on Tuesday, supported by Shell's purchases on the window.
The oil major was the sole buyer of the 20 Dubai partials traded. Sellers include Vitol, Gunvor, Trafigura, Unipec and Chinaoil. Shell will take delivery of two Upper Zakum cargoes from Chinaoil.
Cash Oman also strengthened after Vitol purchased two partials from Shell.
Sri Lanka's Ceylon Petroleum Corp (Ceypetco) is seeking Das Blend crude for the first time as it tries to diversify the crude that its sole 50,000 barrels-per-day refinery processes, industry sources said.
The company is looking for 90,000 tonnes or 700,000 barrels of Das Blend crude for delivery into Colombo over May 23 to 24. The tender closes on March 10.
"The refinery engineers think Das Blend will have a better yield than Murban, so they will try it out," a source close to the company said.
A trader said it was unlikely to have a big impact on the Middle East spot market given the relatively small volume.
India's ONGC planned to buy 1 million barrels of sweet crude for loading on April 16-30 in a tender to close on March 13 with bids valid until March 17.
*OSP
Iran set its official selling prices (OSP) for April-loading Iran Light crude to Asia at a $0.70 a barrel discount to Oman/Dubai, up $1.40 from the month before, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.
This puts Iranian Light at a 20-cent premium to Saudi's Arab Light in the second quarter, steady from the previous three months.
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