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SINGAPORE: The Asia-Pacific crude market remained weak on Tuesday with Malaysian and Australian grades yet to move for June.
A drop in demand from Chinese teapot refineries, and a potential release of oil from storage after Brent's contango narrowed, have depressed regional grades.
Still, China raised retail fuel prices on Tuesday which may lift its demand for crude again.
Traders looked to Petroleum Brunei's monthly Kimanis crude tender for price direction although a rise in supply in June may weigh on its premium.
More details emerged for PV Oil's Chim Sao tender. The first cargo bought by BP fetched a premium of about $1.50 a barrel above dated Brent while the other two cargoes were sold at lower premiums of about $1 a barrel, traders said.
PV Oil has sold June-loading Bach Ho to a trader at parity to a small premium, a trader said, although this could not be independently verified. This was down from premiums of more than $1 from the previous month.
"Vietnam needs Chinese demand to pick up," a trader said.
June Brent's premium to Dubai swaps, or Brent-Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS), edged down 5 cents to $3.65 a barrel.
Russian ESPO premiums have recovered from six-month lows supported by demand from Unipec.
The trading arm of Asia's largest refiner Sinopec has bought more than 5 million barrels of Russian ESPO crude for loading in June as it prepares to raise refinery runs in China, industry sources said.
Unipec probably bought all seven cargoes in Surgutneftegaz's tenders at premiums ranging from $2 to just above $3 a barrel to Dubai quotes, the sources said. It also bought one of the cargoes in Rosneft's tender, traders said.
TENDERS
Pertamina issued a second tender seeking up to three Nigerian crude cargoes per month between July and December as it did not award the first tender. The tender will close on April 27 with offers valid until May 2.
REFINERY
Indian refiners processed 10.81 percent more crude oil in March than a year earlier as the government began adding crude processed by the recently commissioned 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) Paradip refinery on the east coast, preliminary government data showed on Monday.
Saudi Aramco is considering proposals to buy stakes in Indian oil refining and petrochemical projects, India's oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Monday, as the world's biggest oil exporter seeks outlets for its oil.
China's top energy group China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) said it plans to cap its domestic refining capacity at around 4 million barrels per day by 2020, while also aiming for more profitability from its downstream business amid weak oil prices.
MARKET NEWS
Oil exports from southern Iraq have reached a record monthly rate so far in April as OPEC's second-largest producer resumes the supply growth that has added downward pressure on prices.
A parallel national oil corporation allied to Libya's eastern government loaded a shipment of 650,000 barrels at the Marsa el-Hariga terminal on Monday in an effort to sell oil for the first time, officials said.
Nigeria's initial oil export plan for June showed crude loadings poised to fall to the lowest level so far this year, according to a compilation of loading programmes on Monday.
Saudi Aramco expects a recovery in oil prices by the end of this year, the state oil giant's chief executive said on Monday, emphasising that Saudi Arabia will always meet customer demand.
Saudi Arabia expects state oil company Saudi Aramco to be valued at more than $2 trillion and plans to sell less than 5 percent of it through an initial public offering (IPO), Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said.
Yemeni government forces and their Emirati allies took back control of the country's largest oil export terminal from al Qaeda on Monday, security officials said, a day after routing the militants from their nearby stronghold.
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