May Murban falls on Urals arbitrage inflows

Singapore: The Middle East crude market weakened yesterday, with buyers expecting supply to rise with imports of Russian Urals crude due to arrive in Asia next month.

Abu Dhabi's benchmark Murban crude for May was pegged at just below 30 cents a barrel above Dubai quotes, down from deals done at a premium of around 35 cents earlier this month.

About 8 million barrels of Urals crude are expected to head to Asia in April, including Unipec cargoes, traders said.

Kenya Petroleum may also have withdrawn a tender for May-lifting Murban, after having skipped purchases in the previous two months, traders said, adding to pressure on the grade.

Dubai has set its official differential to Oman futures for June at a discount of 45 cents per barrel, narrower than the previous month, the Dubai Department of Petroleum Affairs said yesterday.

The differential will be applied to the average of daily settlements for the front-month June Oman contract at the end of April to set Dubai's official selling price (OSP) for June-loading crude.

The differential for May was set at a discount of 70 cents a barrel.

Shell bought seven Dubai partials for May from Unipec and Glencore at $122.00-$122.15 a barrel. The oil major has purchased 37 Dubai partials so far this week.

Unipec declared one Upper Zakum cargo to Shell after transacting 19 Dubai partials.