SINGAPORE: The Asia-Pacific crude market was supported by tighter supply and less-than-expected seasonal refinery maintenance although lower product margins helped balance the market.
Shorter supply of Russia's Sakhalin Blend as well as some light Middle East grades were seen as supporting spot premiums for light sweet regional grades, balancing the impact of a drop in refining margins for gasoline and naphtha since last month.
Russian Sokol crude strengthened after Cosmo Oil purchased an April-loading cargo at around $5.70 a barrel above Dubai quotes, according to traders.
Spot premiums for Papua New Guinea's Kutubu grade were steady to slightly lower than last month, following the sale of an April 23-27 cargo by Oil Search, traders said, although the details remained unclear.
Petron was seeking 600,000 barrels of light sweet crude for delivery to its Port Dickson refinery in Malaysia in a tender that closes on Friday.
The Philippine state refiner normally does not buy sweet crude via tenders. It was unclear why the company chose to issue the tender.
Supply of Malaysia's Kimanis grade would be steady in April at six cargoes, a trader said. No offers for Malaysian grades were heard yet.
Brent's premium to Dubai swaps, or Brent-Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS), held steady at $2.96 a barrel.
* MARKET NEWS
India's Reliance Industries Ltd is preparing to lift oil from Iran next month after a gap of about five years, said an industry source with knowledge of talks between the two.
Two cargoes of North Sea Forties crude oil have been dropped from the March loading programme because of outages this month that have restricted supply, trade sources said.
A fire which broke out Tuesday night at a site where an oil well is being dug in northern Kuwait has been brought under control, state news agency KUNA reported early on Thursday.
Russia's oil output may drop to 460 million tonnes in 2020-2025 from last year's 534 million tonnes as oil prices stay low and oil firms cut capital expenditure, according to a "stress scenario" published by Russia's energy ministry.
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