Middle East crude markets flat, EFS crosses $3/b

London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) – Middle East crude oil prices edged cautiously higher Monday, but Dubai and Oman continued to bounce around six-week lows as Asian markets remained sluggish.

Dubai cash for June delivery was assessed at $61.05/b on April 12 (16.30 Singapore time), up $0.15/b from the pre-weekend Singapore close, while DME Oman futures for June settled $61.26/b at the Asian close, up $0.19/b.

Traders said the June spot market was yet to get going, but Qatar's tender for Al Shaheen is expected to give a clearer picture when awarded later this week.

Meanwhile, Brent fared slightly better in Asian trading hours with Quantum assessing cash BFOE at $63.18/b, up $0.39/b from Friday's Singapore settlement, as sentiment improved in the light sweet market.

The Brent/Dubai EFS for June crossed the $3.00/b mark, assessed at $3.19/b.

Products

Gasoline 92 RON cracks rebounded from $6/b on Friday to $6.67/b on Monday FOB Singapore.

Two physical deals were heard at $69.30-69.40/b FOB Singapore firming up the crack.

Swaps also outstripped the rise in crude, with balmo pegged at $69.73/b and May at $69.40b.

No physical deals were heard in the naphtha market and marginal falls in swaps and cash outpaced losses in crude and the spot crack slipped for the third day.

Spot was assessed at $559/mt CIF Japan, with balmo swaps at $553.50/mt, down 80 cents on the day.

Benchmark 10 ppm diesel cracks hit the highest in several weeks as light ends fell.

No cash deals were heard but physical was seen flat to balmo swaps.

The jet kero crack versus cash Brent rose to the highest in weeks as distillates still outpaced light ends following last week's build.

No physical deals were heard, but swaps were 10-15 c/b higher across the curve.

Fuel oil edged marginally higher on the day but swaps failed to follow crude.