Demand for Russian and Middle East grades priced off Dubai, however, remained robust as Brent's premium to Dubai quotes rose to $4.30 a barrel, the widest since January 2016.
UAE: Spot premiums for June-loading Upper Zakum has likely touched 35 cents a barrel to its OSP, the highest so far this month, buoyed by demand from Shell as the oil major snapped up several medium-sour crude cargoes in the spot market. Trade in light sour Murban crude was muted.
THAILAND: IRPC has likely bought one cargo each of Qatar Marine, Qatar Land and Oman crude via its tender for June-loading supplies, trade sources said.
Prices were not immediately known.
RUSSIA: Sakhalin Energy has sold five cargoes of Sakhalin Blend crude loading between late June and July at premiums slightly higher than the previous month on strong demand for grades priced off Dubai quotes, sources said.
A cargo loading between June 24 and June 30 was sold via tender at a premium close to $4 a barrel to Dubai, while another three cargoes loading in July were sold at $4-$4.50 a barrel, they said.
A fifth cargo loading in mid-July was sold at a premium of $5-$5.50 a barrel as its quality was heavier than usual, one of the sources said.
The loading dates for the four July cargoes are July 5-11, 11-17, 17-23 and 23-29.
The cargoes were sold to end-users in Japan, South Korea and China, the trade sources said.
QATAR: Qatar Petroleum has sold two cargoes of condensate loading in June at lower premiums than the previous month, two trade sources said.
QP sold one cargo of deodorised field condensate (DFC) to Hyundai Oilbank at $4.60-$4.70 per barrel above Dubai quotes, down from premiums of about $5 in the previous month, they said.
It also sold a low-sulphur condensate (LSC) cargo to Hanwha Total at $3.75-$3.80 per barrel above Dubai quotes, they said.
That is down from May sales of $4-$4.50 per barrel.
South Korea's robust demand for condensate to replace falling imports from Iran has cooled as buyers such as SK Incheon Petrochem are turning to light crude as substitute.