SINGAPORE, Oct 23 (Reuters) - The Asia Pacific crude market firmed up on Tuesday with medium sweet crude grades trading higher for December loading cargoes, likely on firm middle distillates margins, industry sources said.
THAILAND
* Thailand's PTT is seeking 300,000 to 1 million barrels of sweet crude for delivery over Dec. 20 to Jan. 15, industry sources said.
The tender closes on Oct. 24 and is valid until Oct. 25.
MALAYSIA
* Petroleum Brunei likely sold its Kimanis crude oil cargo at a premium of 10 to 20 cents a barrel to the crude's official selling price, industry sources said.
This is higher than the 5 to 10 cents a barrel premium that the company sold its November loading Kimanis cargo for earlier.
* Malaysia's Petronas may have sold its December loading Bunga Kekwa and Bunga Orkid cargoes at above $3 a barrel premium to dated Brent, an industry source said, though this could not immediately be confirmed.
TAIWAN
* Taiwan's CPC Corp likely bought its term WTI Midland barrels from U.S. oil and petrochemical firm Kolmar, industry sources said, though this could not immediately be confirmed.
INDONESIA
* Indonesia's state oil company Pertamina is seeking to buy crude oil for delivery in the first quarter of 2019 using currencies other than the U.S. dollar, a tender document reviewed by Reuters showed.
The company is seeking to buy up to 5.7 million barrels of low-sulphur, or sweet, crude produced in West Africa, Malaysia, Vietnam or Brunei priced in currencies such as the Euro, Indonesian Rupiah, Chinese Yuan, Japanese Yen and Saudi Arabian Riyal.
The cargoes are for delivery to its refineries at Cilacap, Balikpapan and a ship-to-ship transfer location at Teluk Semangka between January and March 2019. The tender closed on Monday and offers remain valid until Oct. 26.
BRENT-DUBAI EFS
* Brent's premium to Dubai swaps DUB-EFS-1M was at $2.22 per barrel for December, down 38 cents from the previous session.
NEWS
* The United States cannot stop Iranian oil exports by imposing sanctions on Tehran, Iran's oil minister said on Tuesday, warning that such restrictions will ensure the market remains volatile. plans new sanctions targeting Iran's oil sector from Nov. 4 with the aim of stopping the country's involvement in conflicts in Syria and Iraq, and bringing Tehran to the negotiating table over its ballistic missile programme.
* China's September diesel and gasoline exports fell sharply from August as robust domestic demand curbed overseas shipments. Spot Middle East crude oil cargoes are trading at discounts in Asia after OPEC producers increased supplies to replace Iranian oil and as natural disasters crimped demand from Japan, industry sources said on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia plans to sign deals worth more than $50 billion in the oil, gas, industries and infrastructure sectors at an investment conference in Riyadh on Tuesday, a source familiar with the matter said. Mubadala Investment Company is waiting for the right time to revive the listing of Spanish oil company Cepsa, said the Abu Dhabi state investor's chief executive on Tuesday. Refining company Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) PSX.N was awarded a tender to supply Mexico's Pemex with at least four 350,000-barrel cargoes of U.S. Bakken crude for November delivery, the refining company said on Monday. crude prices, oil product cracks and refining margins, please click on the RICs below.
Brent
BRENTSGMc1
Dubai
DUBSGSWMc2
Brent/Dubai EFS
DUB-EFS-1M
PRODUCT CRACKS
Fuel oil crack
FO180SGCKMc1
Gasoil crack
GOSGCKMc1
Naphtha crack
NAFOBSGCKMc1
Complex refining margins REF/MARGIN1