SINGAPORE: Chinaoil continued its purchases in the Middle East crude market for a second day, a sign that it could embark on a buying spree this month, traders said on Thursday.
The trading arm of PetroChina took delivery of a third Upper Zakum crude cargo on Thursday from Unipec, the trading arm of Asia's largest refiner Sinopec, in deals revealed during pricing agency Platts' market assessment process, traders said.
A day ago, Chinaoil bought one cargo each of the Abu Dhabi grade from Royal Dutch Shell and Unipec, they added.
Despite Chinaoil's purchases, contango in the prompt intermonth Dubai spread was wider than last month, an indication of a weaker market.
"The spread was trading in low minus 20s all of last week and is now pricing at minus 40-50 cents, but it is early days," a trader with a western firm said.
June/August spread widened to $1.20 a barrel after Unipec bought several August Dubai partials on the window.
For monthly prices, ADNOC has set the March OSP for Murban at $1.44 a barrel premium to Dubai quotes, up 33 cents from the previous month, in line with values for May-loading cargoes last month.
The March OSP differentials to Dubai for Das and Upper Zakum were at 33 cents and 28 cents, respectively.
Iraqi oil exports rose in March to a record 2.98 million barrels per day (bpd) from 2.597 million bpd in the previous month, the oil ministry said.
The OPEC is catching up on exports from its southern ports after allocating more supply than it could meet in February and as bad weather delayed oil loading.
Exports from Iraq's southern terminals reached 2.712 million bpd, while exports from the north via the Kurdistan pipeline were 268,000 bpd in March, the ministry said.
TENDERS
Tasweeq issued its monthly tender to sell deodorised field condensate and low sulphur condensate to load in June. The tender will close on April 21 with bids valid until a day later.
DME OMAN
DME Oman for June settled at $55.69 a barrel, up $2.08, at 0830 GMT. This puts DME Oman at 70 cents below Dubai swaps against a discount of 87 cents in the previous session.
*MARKET NEWS
Major powers and Iran stretched marathon talks on Tehran's nuclear programme into a second day past their deadline, with diplomats saying prospects for a preliminary agreement were finely balanced between success and collapse in the coming hours.
At least four people died after a fire broke out on an oil processing platform in the Gulf of Mexico early on Wednesday, leading to the evacuation of 302 workers, Mexican state-run oil company Pemex said.
The supply of North Sea crude that underpins the Brent benchmark will average 852,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May, according to loading programmes, down from a revised 940,000 bpd in April.
BP will cease production at its 102,000 barrels per day Bulwer Island refinery in Brisbane in May, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.
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