SINGAPORE: Asia-Pacific crude market softened on Monday after Pertamina offered a prompt cargo of Banyu Urip, adding to ample supplies.
Pertamina will close on Tuesday a tender to sell 650,000 barrels of the crude for June loading, traders said, even as the market is trading July cargoes this month.
Sweet crude supplies elsewhere remained abundant.
Supply disruptions in Nigeria did not help ease the West African oil glut as June-loading cargoes are still unsold.
Libya's crude production has also rebounded to above 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) after the Marsa al Hariga export terminal re-opened late last week, a spokesman for the Tripoli-based National Oil Corporation (NOC) said on Monday.
Russia was China's largest crude oil supplier for a second month this year, customs data showed on Monday, with shipments in April surpassing imports from Saudi Arabia and hitting a record high as demand from independent refiners remained strong.
Crude imports from Russia surged 52.4 percent in April compared with last year to reach 1.17 million barrels per day (bpd), topping the previous record of 1.13 million bpd in December.
The record-high import volumes from Russia were likely fuelled by independent refiners, who are storing oil that they had earlier purchased at lower flat prices, a trader with a Chinese company said.
Unipec had also purchased large volumes of Russian ESPO crude for April delivery, a second trader said.
"China's Russia imports will remain stable in May, but are likely to drop in June as independent refineries reduce purchases after oil prices jumped in April," said another Beijing-based crude oil trader.
Brent's premium to Dubai swaps, or Brent-Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS) eased 1 cent to $3.50 a barrel for July.
REFINERY
Hundreds of petrol stations faced shortages in France on Saturday as protests over a labour law reform led to a fall in refinery output and blockades that hampered fuel supply and prompted consumer panic.
A new refinery in Indonesia which Russia's Rosneft may help build will have annual capacity of up to 24 million tonnes (480,000 barrels per day), Russian Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said on Friday.
Energy giant Saudi Aramco is ready to supply up to 270,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil to a refinery it will jointly upgrade with Indonesia's Pertamina, chief executive of the Southeast Asia state-owned energy company said.
MARKET NEWS
Goldman Sachs said it expects US oil prices to hold in a $50 a barrel to $60 a barrel range through 2020, due mainly to improved shale oil productivity and increased supply from OPEC producers.
Former militants have called for a halt to a resurgence of attacks on oil and gas facilities in Nigeria's Niger Delta, saying it is an unnecessary distraction for President Muhammadu Buhari's administration.
Authorities in Canada have announced the reopening of eight shuttered work camps south of the wildfire-ravaged oil town of Fort McMurray, paving the way for energy firms to restart production.
Global oil supply currently exceeds demand by around 1.5 million barrels per day, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday, adding that he saw an average oil price of between $40 and $50 per barrel this year.
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