SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks edged down on Monday, with most of the June-loading cargoes traded while some refiners scaled back demand on strong premiums this month.

Indian Oil Corp cancelled a sour crude tender last week after receiving higher than expected offers for Basra Light, traders said. It has not bought the Iraqi grade this month and has only bought 1 million barrels each of Banoco Arab Medium and Murban in earlier tenders, they said.

May-loading Basra Light's premium hit a record high above $1 a barrel this month in a purchase by a Japanese refiner, but the crude's value has since slipped back to a premium of less than 50 cents a barrel, with bids from other Asian buyers at about 30 cents.

China's CEFC has sold an ESPO cargo loading June 15-25 at $3.30 a barrel above Dubai quotes, traders said, after Gazprom Neft sold an early June cargo to BP at a premium of $3.25. June-loading ESPO crude has traded at $3.10-$3.50 a barrel and is likely to stay at that level, one of the traders said.

REFINERY

Japan's JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy says there's still no timetable for resuming crude refining at its 235,000 barrel per day Kawasaki refinery after an unplanned halt on April 17 because of an unspecified problem. 

 

NEWS

State-run Chinese conglomerate CITIC Group is conducting due diligence on CEFC China Energy's stake in onshore oilfields in Abu Dhabi as CITIC prepares, under the Chinese government's direction, to possibly take over CEFC's energy business, said two sources with knowledge of the matter. 

Britain and South Korea are in talks to protect an arrangement of tax breaks for Korean buyers of North Sea crude beyond Britain's exit from the EU, officials from both countries said, though a breakthrough does not look 

Trucks loaded with crude are an increasingly common sight at Canada's border. Production has risen in the world's fifth-largest producer, but full pipelines and a rail car shortage have made it difficult for drillers to ship oil out of Canada. 

A fall in Iran's March crude and condensate exports was temporary and they currently stand at 2.5 million barrels per day, state TV on Monday reported Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh as saying. 

A fire broke out because of an oil leak in Kuwait on Monday, but was contained and did not disrupt production operations, Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) said in a statement.

Libya is considering whether to intervene in a $450 million deal that French major Total announced last month to buy Marathon Oil's stake in the country's Waha concessions, several sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. 

Repairs to a pipeline operated by Libya's Waha Oil Co that was damaged by fire caused by an attack are expected to take "a few days", National Oil Corp said on Sunday.

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