SINGAPORE, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The Asia-Pacific crude oil market remained firm on Thursday with Malaysia raising the crude price factor for October, industry sources said.
MALAYSIA
* Malaysian state oil firm Petronas has set the October price factor for Malaysian Crude Oil (MCO) at $4.35 a barrel, up 45 cents from the previous month, according to a company document reviewed by Reuters on Thursday. Vietnam's PV Oil has offered 1 million-1.2 million barrels of Hai Thach crude for loading over January to June next year, industry sources said.
The tender closes on Oct. 16 and is valid until Nov. 1.
PV Oil sold 1 million-1.6 million barrels of the crude for loading over January to June this year to Concord Energy at a premium of about $2.80 a barrel to dated Brent, traders have said. Indonesia's state-owned Pertamina bought a cargo of Australian condensate for delivery in December, two industry sources said.
The company bought 650,000 barrels of North West Shelf condensate for delivery in the first half of December on a cost and freight basis, one of the sources said.
This works out to about a premium of up to 50 cents a barrel to dated Brent on a free-on-board basis.
Pertamina last bought two cargoes of North West Shelf condensate for delivery in November, traders have said.
TAIWAN
* Taiwanese refiner CPC Corp is set to buy U.S. crude oil through a term contract for the first time, two industry sources said.
Negotiations are ongoing and the tender, for U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Midland, could be awarded later this week or early next week, one of the sources said.
"Prices for WTI crude are competitive, so (CPC) has decided to buy through term," the source added.
The contract period will likely be from February to June, the source said.
BRENT-DUBAI EFS
* Brent's premium to Dubai swaps DUB-EFS-1M was at $2.88 per barrel for December.
NEWS
* Hurricane Michael on Wednesday cut 42 percent of U.S. Gulf of Mexico daily crude oil production and nearly a third of natural gas output, the largest reductions in a year, after companies evacuated staff and shut-in platforms as a precaution. The United Arab Emirates started to increase its oil production in the third quarter of this year and expects to further raise its output in October and November to meet market demand, the UAE's Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei said on Thursday. The world's biggest trading houses said on Wednesday they saw oil prices not falling below $65 per barrel and possibly breaking above $100 next year as U.S. sanctions on Iran reduce crude exports from the Islamic republic. U.S. crude oil output in 2018 is expected to grow more quickly than previously forecast to a record high, according to a monthly U.S. government forecast on Wednesday. OPEC member Algeria's first-half oil and gas export volumes dropped 3.6 percent from the previous six months, continuing a downward trend that started in 2017, the central bank said. 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