Asian crude: sweet firm on expected utilities demand

Healthy demand from East Asian utilities in summer is keeping sentiment for regional sweet crudes, such as Indonesia's Minas, strong, traders said on Monday.
A European major bought July-lifting Minas at a premium of $1.70-$1.80 a barrel to Indonesia Crude Price (ICP) on Friday, traders said. The seller and the volume were not immediately available.
The first deal for July barrels were higher than a $1.50 premium assessed for June-lifting Minas late on Friday.
"The market expects healthy utilities demand, especially from South Korea and Taiwan, for regional sweets during the summer season", when electricity demand typically peaks in East Asia, a Tokyo-based trader said.
The premiums for July-lifting Minas cargoes were pegged at $1.80-$2.00, traders said.
A major sold the first barrels of July-lifting Duri at a premium of $1.10-$1.20 a barrel to ICP, traders said. The volume and the buyer were not immediately confirmed. In the last deal, June Duri was sold at a premium of $1.
In other grades, Japanese trading house Mitsubishi Corp sold a July-lifting Cossack cargo to a Japanese refiner on Friday. The Australian grade was sold at APPI Tapis plus 30 cents a barrel, higher than the last deal done at APPI Tapis plus 25 cents.
No fresh deals for regional sweets were done on Monday.
The Brent/Dubai EFS for July was assessed at $2.73/$2.78 a barrel on Monday, narrowing from Friday's level of $2.83.
Although a $2.00-Brent/Dubai EFS is often seen as a ceiling for west-to-east arbitrage economics, Chinese demand for West African grades increased to 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) in June, from 1.1 million bpd in May.
In the Middle East crude market, benchmark July-lifting Oman premiums inched up as one trader is bidding at a three-cent premium.
The premiums of July Oman were assessed at three to eight cents to its official selling price (OSP) set by the Ministry of Oil and Gas on Monday, up from flat to five cents above the OSP on Friday.
The trader said Total sold the last cargo of Umm Shaif for July lifting on Friday to Nippon Oil Corp at a premium of about 44 cents a barrel to the OSP set by Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.
Traders said Nippon Oil had bought two other July-lifting Umm Shaif cargoes from Kanematsu Corp and BP Plc. Nippon was still looking for lighter Middle East grades, traders said.
They said one cargo was available each for July Oman and July Murban.