SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks extended gains on Tuesday, riding concerns of tighter supplies after Washington announced that it would not give any more waivers to Iranian oil buyers.

DME Oman's premium to swaps rose 17 cents to $2.07 a barrel, the highest since October. Cash Dubai's premium to swaps climbed 12 cents to $1.91 a barrel, the highest since at least 2014.

MIDEAST CRUDE: Japanese refiner Fuji Oil bought a June-loading Murban crude cargo at a premium of about 40 cents a barrel to its official selling price, traders said, up from earlier deals at premiums of 20-30 cents.

Thailand's PTT bought a June-loading cargo each of Oman and Upper Zakum crude on behalf of IRPC in a tender. Taiwan's CPC may have also bought an Oman crude cargo, in addition to the three Upper Zakum cargoes it purchased in its monthly tender.

ASIA-PACIFIC CRUDE: Petronas has sold a June-loading Labuan crude cargo at a premium of $5.50-$6 a barrel to dated Brent, traders said.

PV Oil sold its two June-loading Chim Sao cargoes to Binh Son refinery, a trader said.

Exxon Mobil offered a Banyu Urip cargo in a tender to close on Wednesday.

ARBITRAGE: Asia's largest refiner Sinopec is set to receive its first U.S. crude oil cargo this week since halting imports from the country in September, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. 

The supertanker Maran Artemis, carrying about 2 million barrels of U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Midland crude, is waiting off eastern China's Qingdao port to discharge its oil, according to Refinitiv analyst Emma Li.

Noble, a second Very Large Crude Carrier also carrying 2 million barrels of WTI Midland crude, is scheduled to arrive in Zhanjiang in southern China in early May, Refinitiv data showed.

Unipec has purchased more cargoes to arrive in May and June as the company gradually resumes U.S. oil imports, the sources said.

 

WINDOW: BP will receive an Upper Zakum crude cargo from Petro-Diamond. This is the seventh cargo that BP bought in the window this month.

Separately, BP bid for a Murban cargo at 40 cents a barrel above its OSP while Total countered with an offer at 50 cents. Seller-Buyer Price PDS-BP* 73.75 PDS-Koch 73.75 PPDS-Total 73.75 PDS-BP 73.75 Unipec-BP 73.75 Reliance-Gunvor 73.75 PDS-BP 73.75 Unipec-Koch 73.75 Reliance-BP 73.75 *cargo delivery

Dubai has set its official differential to Oman futures 1OQc1 for July at a discount of $0.05 per barrel, the Dubai Department of Petroleum Affairs said. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nAZN0001FY

 

REFINERY

South Korea's refiners are set to return to the black when they report first-quarter earnings this week, and are expected to do even better in the current quarter as reduced gasoline supplies and the U.S. driving season bolster margins. 

U.S. independent refiners are expected to roll out lower-than-expected first-quarter profits after a spate of outages, weak gasoline margins and a surge in the price of Canadian oil, according to analysts.

 

NEWS

The United States on Monday demanded that buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May 1 or face sanctions, a move to choke off Tehran's oil revenues which sent crude prices to six-month highs on fears of a potential supply crunch. 

A fire on Nigeria's oil-exporting Nembe Creek Trunk Line reported on Sunday has been completely extinguished, operator Aiteo said in a statement. 

India will get additional supplies from other major oil producing countries to compensate for the loss of Iranian oil, India's Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Tuesday. 

Japan expects a limited impact from the U.S. decision not to renew waivers previously granted on Iran oil import sanctions, the country's trade and industry minister said on Tuesday. 

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