SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks were mixed on Tuesday, the last trading day of the month, with DME Oman's premium to Dubai swaps returning above $2 a barrel while cash Dubai cooled off.

Cash Dubai's premium to swaps fell 23 cents to $1.33 a barrel, after touching a more than 5-year high last week, Reuters data showed.

IRAN: Some 20 million barrels of Iranian oil sitting on China's shores in the northeast port of Dalian for the past six months now appears stranded as the United States hardens its stance on importing crude from Tehran. 

The oil is being held in so-called bonded storage tanks at the port, which means it has yet to clear Chinese customs. Despite a six-month waiver to the start of May that allowed China to continue some Iranian imports, shipping data shows little of this oil has been moved.

Asia's crude oil imports from Iran rose to the highest in eight months in March as buyers rushed for more cargoes to take advantage of waivers to the sanctions the United States imposed, data from government and trade sources showed. 

Asia's top oil importers China, India, Japan and South Korea imported a total 1.57 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude from Iran in March, up 36 percent from the previous month to the highest since July, the data showed.

The total import volume for first quarter is 31 percent lower than the same period a year ago, according to the data.

Iran will continue to export oil despite U.S. pressure aimed at reducing the nation's crude oil shipments to zero, Iran President Hassan Rouhani said in a speech broadcast live on Iranian state TV on Tuesday. 

 

RUSSIA: Surgutneftegaz has sold five cargoes of ESPO crude loading in June at premiums of $4.20-$4.40 a barrel to Dubai quotes via a tender, several trade sources said.

The premiums were steady to slightly higher than earlier deals at premiums of $4 to $4.30. 

Unipec purchased the first three cargoes, while Petro-Diamond and another trader took the remaining, they said.

Surgut's cargoes are to load between June 12 and June 16, June 18 to 22, June 21 to 25, June 24 to 28, and June 23 to June 30.

 

ARBITRAGE: Trafigura exported its first-ever cargo of U.S. West Texas Light (WTL) oil last month, according to a source familiar with the matter, sending the shipment to South Korea, which has been testing this oil as a replacement for Iranian barrels. 

Trafigura, one of the largest exporters of U.S. crude, sold the cargo in March, the source said last week, asking not to be named.

 

WINDOW: A total 143 Dubai partials traded on Platts window with PetroChina receiving two Upper Zakum cargoes from Unipec and Petro-Diamond at the end of the session. In all, 19 Upper Zakum cargoes were delivered on window this month with BP taking the bulk of it, or 9 cargoes. Total received four cargoes, while Lukoil and PetroChina took two each. Koch and Gunvor got a cargo each.

 

REFINERY

China's Hengyi Industries International Pte Ltd has bought west African crude to prepare for trial runs at its new refinery in Brunei, several trade sources said. 

The company has purchased 1 million barrels of Zafiro crude to be loaded from Equatorial Guinea in May and arrive at Brunei in June, they said.

The 175,000-barrels-per-day refinery is scheduled to start trial runs in the second quarter. 

 

NEWS

Anadarko Petroleum Corp said on Monday it would negotiate with Occidental Petroleum Corp over its $38 billion cash-and-stock bid, after determining it could get a better deal than its agreed $33 billion sale to Chevron Corp. 

An armed group attacked Libya's largest oilfield on Monday, but was repelled after clashes with its protection force, while fighting escalated in eastern commander Khalifa Haftar's effort to capture the capital Tripoli.

Clean Russian oil had reached the border with Belarus by midday on Monday, a Russian official said, five days after European refineries suspended imports because of contamination in the Druzhba pipeline.

Production at Iraq's giant Rumaila oilfield has reached 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd), a project manager at developer BP said on Monday. 

South Sudan's oil minister said on Monday that the country's oil was flowing smoothly and problems with importing chemicals for drilling, due to a strike at a port in neighbouring Sudan, had been resolved.

(Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu) ((Florence.Tan@thomsonreuters.com; +65 6870 3497; Reuters Messaging: florence.tan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) ))