SINGAPORE: The Asia-Pacific crude market weakened on Monday after Russian ESPO and Australia's North West Shelf (NWS) condensate premiums for May fell on ample supply.
Woodside sold a May-loading NWS cargo to a Chinese end-user at about $3 a barrel above dated Brent, traders said, a more than $1 drop from the previous month, after naphtha cracks softened.
Petroleum Brunei sold a Kimanis cargo loading on May 22-26 at $3.50-$3.90 a barrel above dated Brent, steady from the previous month, a trader said.
Separately, a record volume of Russian ESPO crude exports in May and lower demand from Chinese independent refiners, nicknamed teapots, have depressed the grade's premium.
ESPO exports will reach a new monthly record-high of 2.83 million tonnes in May, up from 2.77 million tonnes in April, a preliminary schedule showed on Monday.
China's demand for the Russian grade has fallen because freight costs have risen to more than $1 a barrel, making ESPO uncompetitive on arrival, a trader said, adding Brent-linked grades have become more attractive after the global benchmark's premium to Dubai narrowed.
Russian producers will close two ESPO sell tenders on Monday. Surgutneftegaz offered five ESPO cargoes loading on May 10-14, 14-18, 19-23, 23-27 and 27-31, while Rosneft's cargoes are for May 11-14 and 22-25. Rosneft's tender will remain valid until April 1.
The tenders came after Tenergy sold at least one of two cargoes loading on May 13-18 and 20-26 at a premium of about $3.50 a barrel to China last week, traders said.
REFINERY NEWS
India's Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd will shut a crude unit that can process 180,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) for a about a week from April 1 for maintenance, a source with knowledge of the matter said.
Japanese oil refiner TonenGeneral Sekiyu KK said on Friday it shut its 78,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) No.3 crude distillation unit (CDU) at its 258,000-bpd Kawasaki refinery for scheduled maintenance.
MARKET NEWS
Vietnam's crude oil exports during January-March fell 19.8 percent from the same period last year to an estimated 1.76 million tonnes, or 142,000 barrels per day (bpd), the government said on Friday.
The drop in exports was because Vietnam processed more domestic crude at its refinery, a trade source said.
Vietnam's crude oil output in March is estimated at 1.32 million tonnes (312,000 barrels per day), down 6.4 percent from a year ago, the government said on Friday.
The Indonesian government may seek parliamentary approval to remove diesel subsidies in a budget revision for 2016, which it will submit before the second half of this year, cabinet ministers said.
Japan will see mostly warmer weather from April to June, the official forecaster said on Friday.
China's refined fuel stocks at the end of February rose 17.3 percent from the previous month to their highest level in four years, while commercial crude oil stocks were up 1.1 percent, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.
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