SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmark Dubai fell on Monday, after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, last week agreed to gradually ease its oil output cuts from May.
The group, which has implemented deep cuts since a pandemic-induced oil price collapse in 2020, agreed to ease production curbs by 350,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May, another 350,000 bpd in June and a further 400,000 bpd or so in July.
Saudi Arabia increased the price of its Arab light crude for the Asian market by 40 cents a barrel in May, compared with April, in line with market expectations.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) made its first purchase of Norway's Johan Sverdrup crude, buying four million barrels via a tender, as it speeds up diversification of crude imports.
Indonesia's Pertamina closed a spot tender to seek crude for June.
ASIA-PACIFIC CRUDE:
The official selling price (OSP) of a basket of March-loading Malaysian crude oil grades has been set at $67.63 a barrel, up $2.71 from $64.92 a barrel in February.
REFINERY
Operations at Indonesia's state oil company PT Pertamina's 125,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Balongan may return to normal this week, following a fire in some parts of the refinery, a company director told parliament on Monday.
NEWS
The Dubai Mercantile Exchange launched a bilateral trading platform for companies to trade multiple Middle East crude grades priced against DME's Oman crude futures.
Stung by the collapse of Asia's top independent oil trading firm, some global banks have teamed up to seek the personal assets of the family behind Hin Leong Trading, which has left creditors on the hook for billions of dollars.
Malaysia's state oil company Petronas signed an agreement with Brunei to jointly develop two offshore oilfields.
(Reporting By Shu Zhang; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri) ((shu.zhang@thomsonreuters.com; +65-6870-3549; Reuters Messaging: Twitter @shuzhang4))
