SINGAPORE, June 28 (Reuters) - The Asia-Pacific crude oil market remained steady on Thursday in quiet trade, as market participants wrap up sales of August-loading cargoes, while more spot cargoes are expected to flow into Asia from the United States in August.
TAIWAN
* Taiwan's CPC Corp has bought about 5 million barrels of U.S. WTI Midland crude for delivery over August to September, industry sources said. last bought 7 million barrels of U.S. WTI Midland crude for delivery in July-August, the largest volume purchased so far in its monthly tender. wide WTI-Brent price spread has been encouraging more U.S. crude to flow into Asia.
But a trade dispute between the United States and China is expected to slow the flow of crude oil from the United States to Asia, one of the sources said.
"Sellers are worried about (the trade war), so they have lowered the prices but demand is down," the source added.
INDONESIA
* Commodity trader Glencore (LON:GLEN) bid for 200,000 barrels of Minas crude oil cargo on the Rim trading board for a premium of $1.95 a barrel to ICE Brent, trade sources said.
BP (LON:BP) Singapore, on the other hand, offered 100,000 barrels of Attaka crude oil for loading in August at a discount of $4.20 a barrel to ICE Brent.
Both bid and offer were not traded.
Warmer temperatures in North Asia are expected to stoke demand for direct-burning crude oil, trade sources have said.
CONDENSATE
* A Libyan condensate cargo totalling about 17,500 tonnes arrived at Singapore in the week ended June 27, latest data from International Enterprise showed.
BRENT-DUBAI EFS
* Brent's premium to Dubai swaps DUB-EFS-1M was at $3.19 per barrel for August.
NEWS
* U.S. crude stocks fell by nearly 10 million barrels last week, the most in nearly two years, as refiners processed a record amount of crude and exports also hit an all-time high, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. The United States, France, Britain and Italy said on Wednesday they were deeply concerned by an announcement that east Libyan oil fields and ports would be handed over to a parallel National Oil Corporation (NOC) based in Libya's east. Goldman Sachs' investment management division is recommending clients buy both sterling and oil, the CIO of its strategy group said on Wednesday. Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSa) has exited the Majnoon oilfield in southern Iraq and handed over its operations to the state-run Basra Oil Co., two Iraqi oil officials close to the deal said on Wednesday. Idemitsu's founding family will drop its opposition to plans for a merger of Idemitsu Kosan and Showa Shell Sekiyu, paving the way for the Japanese oil firms to combine, the Nikkei reported. U.S. energy giant Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) must compete if it wants to continue operating Indonesia's Rokan block, the country's biggest source of crude oil, after its contract expires in 2021, Indonesia Energy and Mines Minister Ignasius Jonan said on Wednesday. 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