SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks Oman and Dubai were mixed on Wednesday at month-end.

The official selling price (OSP) for Oman crude in May will rise by $3.58 to $64.43 a barrel, Reuters calculations based on data from the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) showed.

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia is expected to raise its OSPs for Asia for a second consecutive month in May, tracking stronger Middle East benchmarks, a Reuters survey showed. 

Sources at four Asian refiners expect the May OSP for flagship Arab Light crude to increase by an average of 34 cents a barrel, which would take it to the highest level since February last year.

The market's focus is now on Thursday's meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, collectively known as OPEC+, where they will discuss whether to keep in place curbs on output.

OPEC+ has lowered its 2021 oil demand growth forecast by 300,000 barrels per day, reflecting concerns about the market's recovery as new coronavirus lockdowns take hold, a report from its experts' panel meeting seen by Reuters showed. 

 

REFINERY

Indonesia's state oil company PT Pertamina said it has put out a fire that had engulfed part of its 125,000 barrel per day refinery in Balongan, West Java and had begun making preparations to restart the plant. 

 

NEWS

U.S. crude oil stocks rose and gasoline inventories fell in the most recent week, according to trading sources citing data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute.

Formal investigations into how the giant container ship Ever Given ran aground in the Suez Canal, shutting down shipping in the major global waterway for almost a week, begin on Wednesday, a canal official told Reuters.

U.S. gasoline sales for 2021 have exceeded prior-year levels for the first time since last March, when officials first started to widely impose coronavirus lockdowns, according to a report on Tuesday from the Oil Price Information Service by HIS Markit. 

(Reporting By Shu Zhang; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.) ((shu.zhang@thomsonreuters.com; +65-6870-3549; Reuters Messaging: Twitter @shuzhang4))