LONDON, May 31 (Reuters) - Energy majors and Angola's
Sonangol were heard to be easing offerings for July cargoes as
buyers in key Asian markets were discouraged by high shipping
costs.
* The Brent-Dubai spread DUB-EFS-1M eased on Friday to a
little more than $3.70, down 40 cents from this week's peaks,
but still at their highest since September.
* BP was heard to have reduced offers on some Angolan and
Nigerian grades by about 25 cents after major Nigerian grade
Bonny Light had been offered at a six-year high around $3 above
dated Brent earlier in the week.
* Angola's new Mostarda stream was also heard to have been
marked down because its nearly 1% sulphur levels were not
considered attractive given refining margins.
* A tender by India's IOC that closed on Thursday appears to
have been awarded to ENI -- which will send a cargo of Nigerian
Brass River -- and Glencore.
* Traders had been awaiting the awards to help to assess the
market for the month ahead, with buyers hoping it would cool
prices, though deal values did not emerge immediately.
* Angolan output for May rose from 1.42 million barrels per
day (mbpd) to 1.5 mbpd, according to a Reuters survey of OPEC
crude oil production, bringing compliance to the group's output
cut agreement to 60%. * Nigerian output fell from 1.92 mbpd to 1.82 mbpd,
partially because of the shutdown of the 240,000 bpd Trans
Forcados Pipeline.
RELATED NEWS
* As the first month of theoretically no Iranian crude oil
exports comes to a close it seems that Asian refiners have been
able to cope with the loss of supplies, though they have taken a
hit to profits. * Asia's crude oil imports from Iran jumped to the highest
level in nine months in April as buyers rushed to ship in
purchases before expiry of waivers from U.S. sanctions on Iran,
data from government and trade sources showed on Friday.