Middle East Crude-Dubai, Oman prices fall below Brent for 2nd day

SINGAPORE: Outright prices for Dubai and Oman dropped below Brent for a second straight session on Wednesday as the Middle East crude market returned to normalcy just before the month ends.

Several factors drove Middle East benchmarks above Brent from the start of trading this month. Production cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries took effect while US sanctions on Iran and Venezuela reduced heavy oil supplies in the market.

An outage at Saudi's largest oilfield Safaniya added to concerns about heavy oil supplies from the world's largest exporter. Saudi Aramco's chief executive said on Tuesday the oilfield was back online.

ASIA-PACIFIC CRUDE: Petronas has sold 200,000 barrels of Bertam crude to BB Energy for loading on April 18-22 at a premium of about $4 a barrel to dated Brent, traders said, slightly down from a premium of more than $4 a barrel in the previous month.

PV Oil may have sold the April-loading Ruby crude cargo to Binh Son refinery.

RUSSIA: Surgutneftegaz offered six ESPO crude cargoes for loading on April 6-10, 9-13, 13-17, 16-20, 21-25 and 25-29 in a tender that will close on Wednesday.

WINDOW: Cash Dubai's premium to swaps fell 6 cents to 45 cents a barrel in the absence of trade on window.