LONDON, April 3 (Reuters) - Kazakh CPC Blend prices jumped on Thursday and Russian Urals in the south climbed to just over a three-month high on the back of improved prompt margins and the prospect of the return of some refineries from seasonal maintenance.

A month-long Iraqi pipeline outage has also helped underpin Urals prices, because Iraqi crude is the main alternative medium-sour grade. No cargoes have loaded since March 12, when tanks were emptied.

The Mediterranean Urals price rose to its highest level since end-December after a window deal. The differential has risen by 70 cents a barrel since Monday. Urals also edged up higher in the north by around 10 cents a barrel.

The Urals refinery crack has firmed to around $2 a barrel in the prompt and around $1 a barrel further ahead, well above the weak numbers of the last few months, which were close to flat and even negative at the end of last year. REF/MARGIN1

In the Platts window, Glencore sold an 80,000 tonne Urals cargo to Total at dated Brent minus 10 cents cif Augusta loading April 13-17.

Trafigura bid for an 100,000 tonne Urals cargo at dated Brent minus $1.00 cif Augusta loading April 23-27.

BB Energy bid for an 80,000 tonne Urals cargo at dated Brent minus 45 cents cif Augusta loading April 13-17. But no other sellers surfaced.

Total also bid for three 85,000 tonne cargoes of Kazakh CPC Blend at dated Brent minus 75 cents cif Augusta for April 18-22, at dated Brent minus 75 cents cif Augusta for April 23-27 and the third at dated Brent minus 85 cents cif Augusta for April 22-28. No sellers surfaced.

The bids were 40 cents a barrel above a recent deal at around dated Brent minus $1.25 cif Augusta.

Libya sees "good intentions" at ongoing talks with eastern rebels, which might lead to the opening of major oil ports within days, acting oil minister Omar Shakmak said on Thursday.

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But the El Sharara and El Feel oilfields in the southwest of the OPEC producer were still closed by protests, Shakmak said.

Murphy Oil told staff on Thursday it could be forced to close its loss-making Milford Haven refinery in Wales after exclusive talks with a private equity firm collapsed.

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(Reporting by Julia Payne; editing by Jane Baird)

((julia.payne@thomsonreuters.com)(+44 0207 542 1836)(Reuters Messaging: julia.payne.reuters.com@reuters.net)) 

 ((For a database of oil supply and demand fundamentals upstream and downstream, Reuters subscribers can click on 
  http://bond.views.session.rservices.com/ce/
   ((MED CRUDE OIL DIFFERENTIAL AND OUTRIGHT PRICE ASSESSMENTS:                       
  0#BFO-DIF
       
  0#C-E
         Urals Med       
  BFO-URL-E
       
  URL-E
         Urals NWE       
  BFO-URL-NWE
     
  URL-NWE-E
         Kirkuk          
  BFO-KIR
         
  KIR-E
          Siberian Light  
  BFO-SIB
         
  SIB-E
         Saharan Blend   
  BFO-SAH
         
  SAH-E
         CPC Blend       
  BFO-CPC
         
  CPC-E
         Azeri           
  BFO-AZR
         
  AZR-E
      CRUDE ARBITRAGE STORIES  
  O/CRUDEARB
        CRUDE OIL TRADES   
  CRU/T
      NORTH SEA CRUDE REPORT  
  CRU/E
      AFRICAN CRUDE REPORT  
  CRU/WAF
             Russia oil export schedule, monthly             
  O/RUS4
      Russia oil exports, table, monthly              
  O/RUS3
      Russia oil output by company, monthly           
  O/RUS2
      Russia oil output/exports, monthly              
  O/RUS1
      Russia product export, monthly                  
  O/RUS5
       
  ENERGY
   energy speed guide        
  CRUDE/1
   crude speed guide    NYMEX crude  
  0#CL:
    ICE crude  
  0#LCO:
                
  OPEC
   OPEC                 
  NSEA
    North Sea     
  CRU
    crude oil            
  PROD
    oil products     
  DRV
    derivatives          
  PRO/E
   European products     
  O/L
    Latest ICE           
  O/N
     Latest NYMEX     
  OILOIL
     
  NYMOIL
    
  IPEOIL
    
  OILSPD
    
  OILARB
           
  CRDWLD
   
  PRODEUR
     
  PRODUS
    
  APROD
  )) ))

Keywords: MARKETS MEDITERRANEAN/CRUDE