SINGAPORE: The Middle East crude market weakened on Friday with DME Oman's premium to Dubai slipping as May trade approached an end.
Russian producer Rosneft sold five of the six ESPO cargoes it offered in a tender, mostly within the price range fetched for May loading barrels this month.
The April 29-May 2 cargo fetched the highest premium at $4.70-$4.80 a barrel to Dubai quotes while the lowest premium was at $3.90-$4. The remaining three cargoes were sold at premiums of just above $4. Sinochem and Unipec bought two cargoes each while Shell took one.
Rosneft is expected to re-issue a tender for the May 27-30 cargo.
Surgutneftegas has also sold its two remaining ESPO cargoes at premiums of just above $4 a barrel. SK Energy bought the May 25-28 cargo at a premium of $4.20-$4.30 while the buyer of the May 22-25 cargo was not immediately known.
On the trading window, Unipec and Shell sold 11 Dubai partials to Chinaoil between $104.60 and $104.80 a barrel.
DME OMAN
DME Oman for May settled at $104.73 at 0830 GMT, up 63 cents. This put DME Oman at 52 cents a barrel above Dubai swaps, edging down from 86 cents in the previous session.
REFINERY
Japan's biggest oil refiner, JX Holdings Inc, said on Friday it plans to refine 1.08 million barrels per day (5.16 million kilolitres) of crude oil in April for domestic consumption, down 2 percent from a year earlier.
MARKET NEWS
Spanish oil group Repsol plans to expand its trading desk in Singapore as it looks to move more crude and fuel oil to Asia to meet growing demand, a company source said.
Libyan protesters have blocked a pipeline carrying oil condensates from the southwestern al-Wafa oilfield to the Mellitah export port, state-owned National Oil Corp (NOC) said.
China's largest energy company will compete for future oil and gas development rights in Mexico, a top company executive said, which could happen as soon as the end of this year.
A consortium developing Kazakhstan's $50-billion Kashagan oilfield said the result of a probe into a toxic gas leak there was now expected in the second quarter, extending the closure of one of the world's biggest oil finds.
Rates for very large crude carriers (VLCCs) on the key Asian freight route plunged to a five-month low on Thursday, with a further drop in prices expected next week as tonnage continues to outstrip cargoes, ship brokers said.
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