SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmark Dubai slipped on Tuesday, while Basra crude was sold at premiums for the first time in six months for cargoes loading in April on tighter supplies, trade sources said.

IRAQ: April Basra Light crude premiums rose to 70-80 cents a barrel while premiums for Basra Heavy crude touched $1 a barrel for cargoes destined for Asia, they said.

Basra crude supplies are expected to fall in April as Iraq complies with an agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC producers to restrict output, the sources said, while maintenance at one of the loading facilities also curbs supplies.

Iraq cut April exports by 8 million-10 million barrels, according to traders' estimate, although this could not be confirmed with Iraq's state-oil marketer, SOMO.

Indian refiner HPCL and Taiwanese refiner Formosa Petrochemical have issued tenders seeking Basra Light.

Basra crude premiums are likely to stay supported at premiums of more than 50 cents a barrel for May-loading cargoes, one of the sources said.

RUSSIA: Surgutneftegaz has sold six ESPO cargoes at $3.10-$3.60 a barrel above Dubai quotes, traders said. 

The lowest premium of some $3.10 a barrel was for the cargo loading on May 25-29, while the cargo loading on May 9-13 fetched the highest premium at $3.60 a barrel, they added.

The other four ESPO Blend cargoes offered in the tender were sold at premiums between $3.30 and $3.60 a barrel, traders said.

Separately, CEFC Energy has sold two cargoes of June-loading Sokol crude at differentials pegged to a price formula based on Argus assessments, traders said.

NEWS

Iraq supports OPEC's agreement to cut oil output, Iraqi President Fuad Masum said at a meeting on Monday with OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo. 

The world's largest oil trader Vitol said on Monday that its traded crude and products volumes fell slightly in 2017 as it focused on its mid- and downstream acquisitions and added assets in the United States by acquiring Noble Group's oil business. 

Saudi Aramco will be ready for an initial public offering in the second half of 2018 and the work is ongoing, Amin Nasser, the chief executive officer of the state oil company, said in a Bloomberg television interview on Monday. 

Venezuela's state-run oil firm PDVSA plans to shut an oil upgrader in April for major maintenance work, requiring higher imports of diluents for its extra heavy oil output, according to an internal report seen by Reuters. 

The UK North Sea is set to resume a two-decade decline in oil production next year, snapping a brief period of growth since 2015, consultancy Bernstein said in a report on Monday.

Demand for diesel in India is set to hit a record in 2018 as the government targets massive infrastructure spending in the fiscal year that starts April 1, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a second term in elections in 2019.

(Reporting by Florence Tan and Olga Yagova; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri) ((Florence.Tan@thomsonreuters.com; +65 6870 3497; Reuters Messaging: florence.tan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))