LONDON, May 14 (Reuters) - After a brisk month of trading at
high differentials, spot sales slowed on Tuesday as Asian demand
was weighed down by a sharp widening of the Brent-Dubai spread
over the past week and a steep backwardation in the Brent
futures curve.
* Also weighing on Asian demand for west African crude is
the worst Asian refining margins in years, particularly for
naphtha and gasoline. Demand from the region's top buyer,
Indonesia, has fallen and refineries have returned from
maintenance. * Brent's premium to Dubai quotes DUB-EFS-1M is at levels
not seen since last October at about $3.15 a barrel while the
front-month Brent futures spread closed on Monday at its widest
level since April last year at 92 cents a barrel LCOc1-LCOc2 .
* The combination of the two price moves has made Atlantic
Basin oil much more expensive for Asian refiners.
* Angola's July loading programme was expected to emerge on
Wednesday while Nigeria's new programmes were due out by next
week.
* At least 20 Nigerian cargoes still remained from the June
programme.
* About 3 or 4 Angolan June loading cargoes were still
available, including a Cabinda with Chevron.
* BP was offering Qua Iboe at dated Brent plus $2.70,
Forcados at dated Brent plus $3.40, Agbami at dated Brent plus
$1.25 and Escravos at dated Brent plus $3.30 a barrel.
TENDERS
* Turkey's Tupras issued a buy tender for a cargo of west
African crude for June 25 to July 10 delivery. It closes on May
15.
* India's IOC has two buy tenders for crude loading July
7-16 and June 22 to July 1. They close on May 16.
RELATED NEWS
* Saudi Arabia said armed drones had struck two oil pumping
stations in the kingdom on Tuesday in what it called a
"cowardly" act of terrorism two days after Saudi oil tankers
were sabotaged off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.
* Saudi Aramco aims to boost its oil supply to Europe by
300,000 barrels per day (bpd) within the next two years as it
expands its trading operations there with an office opening this
summer in London, a senior company executive said.