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SINGAPORE: Australian light grades held steady on Monday, supported by demand from refiners in the Pacific.
Trafigura bought a cargo of June-loading Mutineer crude about $3 a barrel to dated Brent, a trader said, after earlier purchasing a Kutubu cargo at $2-$2.50 a barrel above dated Brent.
Russian ESPO starts trading this week as Surgutneftegaz has offered two ESPO cargoes loading between May 31 and June 5 and June 3-June 8 in a tender to close on Monday.
Brent's premium to Dubai swaps, or Brent-Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS) fell 13 cents to $3.58 a barrel for June.
TENDERS
PV Oil offered three Chim Sao cargoes in a tender to close on April 19 with bids valid until April 22. Buyers can choose between two 300,000-barrel cargoes to load during June 5 and June 9 and June 18 and June 22 or a 250,000-barrel cargo for loading on June 26-30.
PV Oil issued a semi-term tender for TGT crude which will close on April 22. Buyers can opt to lift a minimum 10,000 barrels per day of oil between July and December. Bids will remain valid until May 6.
REFINERY
Reliance Industries plans to shut a crude unit from May 1 for three weeks of maintenance, it said in a statement on Monday.
Ecuador's 110,000 barrel-per-day Esmeraldas refinery remained down on Sunday as a precautionary measure, although it is likely to restart soon after a major earthquake in the OPEC nation killed at least 235 people, the state oil company said.
MARKET NEWS
Japan's biggest oil refiner JX Holdings is adapting refineries to produce more gasoline for sales overseas, as Japan joins a regional bonanza driven by strong car sales and low prices and finds an outlet for its chronic refining over capacity.
Japanese oil refiner Idemitsu Kosan Co and Kuwait's state-run Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI) have applied with Vietnam to set up a joint venture to sell oil products in the southeast Asian country, Idemitsu said on Monday.
A workers' strike in Kuwait that has cut its crude output by more than 60 percent could support oil price benchmarks Brent and Dubai, and tighten product supplies as the country scales back refinery runs and fuel exports, analysts said.
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