The market has shifted its focus to dealings for June-lifting Middle East cargoes even though some May-lifting barrels were unsold, traders said. Partial lots of May-lifting Abu Dhabi grades are available and may be rolled over to the next month, traders said. Unsold May Murban totalled about 1 million barrels, along with some 400,000 barrels of small lots of Lower Zakum and Umm Shaif grades, they added.
May-lifting Banoco Arab Medium is still being offered, but the volume is not immediately available.
"Now we are closing up May dealings. Most likely, Abu Dhabi barrels will be rolled over to June," a trader said. "I am not sure about Banoco. Such heavy grades are not that popular now."
Middle East benchmark Oman crude for May was stable at a premium of between 15 cents and 20 cents to the official selling price (OSP) set by the Ministry of Oil and Gas (MOG). June-lifting Oman was seen steady at a premium at 12/18 cents a barrel to the MOG.
On the Asia-Pacific market, a Japanese trader sold May-lifting Australian Cossack to a major. The price fetched was not disclosed.
Three Cossack cargoes for May have already been traded, including the one from Mitsui. The other two deals were done at a discount of 80/70 cents a barrel to Tapis APPI.
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