SINGAPORE: The Middle East crude market held steady on Wednesday as the focus for May trade has shifted to Iraqi Basra and Russian ESPO in Asia.
India's HPCL bought 1 million barrels of both Qua Iboe and Basra Light for May loading via a tender from ExxonMobil and Total respectively, traders said. The prices were not immediately available.
Uncertainty over Basra oil supply in May due to Iraq SOMO's plan to split exports into two grades has slowed trading of the grade in Asia, traders said.
Spot premiums for Russian ESPO held steady, within the price range for early May cargoes.
Surgutneftegaz has sold three cargoes via a tender at premiums between $1.85 and $2.30 a barrel to Dubai quotes, traders said. Buyers include a Japanese refiner and a trader.
Qatar's Tasweeq has offered 1.5 million to 2 million barrels of condensate for prompt sales in a move that could weigh on Asian markets, traders said.
The state-owned oil marketer has offered three to four cargoes of 500,000 barrels each in Asia for April or May loading, they said.
TENDERS
State-run Indian Oil Corp has floated a tender seeking 2 million barrels of Iraq's Basra light oil for May loading, a tender document showed, as the South Asian nation seeks to fill its first strategic petroleum reserve (SPR).
DME OMAN
DME Oman for May settled at $52.87, down 67 cents, by 0830 GMT. This puts DME Oman at $0.97 a barrel below Dubai swaps, against a discount of $1 in the previous session.
MARKET NEWS
Iran is storing more than 20 million barrels of crude on supertankers moored off the country as Western sanctions continue to curb Iranian oil sales globally, Reuters data showed on Wednesday.
China's commercial and strategic oil storage is almost full, a Sinopec trading executive said on Wednesday, leaving little room for Asia's top oil consumer to keep up its soaring import growth and adding downward pressure to an already oversupplied market.
Stronger than expected global oil demand should help to support crude prices at about $55-$60 a barrel in the next two months despite some signs of a growing glut in the United States, a senior Gulf OPEC delegate told Reuters on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia is moving heavy military equipment to areas near its border with Yemen, US officials said on Tuesday, raising the risk that the Middle East's top oil power will be drawn into the worsening Yemeni conflict.
Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA's exports to Asia and the Americas fell last year, though shipments to Europe increased, according to a preliminary government report issued this month.
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