Middle East Crude

Spot premiums for April-loading Abu Dhabi Murban widened. Amid continued supply curbs by main producers, Brent/Dubai EFS spreads widened, making Dubai linked Middle Eastern grades attractive, which boosted Murban traded levels. PTT Public Co in Thailand purchased at least one cargo of Murban for the country's petrochemical firm IRPC in its late April to early May arrival sour crude buy tender. The seller was unknown at this stage but the price was said to be at a premium of larger than 20cts to OSP.

African/European/Russian/American Crude

Spot differentials for East Siberian ESPO Blend for April loading strengthened. Dubai/Brent spreads widened, making ESPO values more attractive than competing arbitrage cargoes. Russian producer Surgutneftgas sold three cargoes of ESPO (Apr 18-25, 21-28 and 25-30 loading) in its third sell tender as April-loading. Those cargoes were heard awarded at premiums of $2.00-2.10 to Dubai quotes. One of these cargoes was heard purchased by an end-user in South Korea but the details were unknown.

Asia Pacific Crude

In the trade of April-loading Malaysian grades, a total of seven Kimanis cargoes would be supplied, two cargoes less than the previous month. Maintenance at production facilities was scheduled, so that the supply volume was less than the previous month. Malaysia's state-run Petronas, US Conoco Phillips, Royal Dutch Shell would handle two cargoes each, and one cargo was allocated to Indonesia 's state-run Pertamina. Market players expected Conoco to sell at least one cargo via its sell tender. In the trade of March-loading Malaysian grades, there were uncommitted cargoes even at the end of trading cycle due to weak demand as reported. Thus, the supply reduction could support the market for April-loading, a market source said.