Middle East Crude-Benchmarks ease; Qatari premiums hit 2-month high

Middle East Crude-Benchmarks ease; Qatari premiums hit 2-month high

SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks eased on Wednesday despite spot premiums for Qatari grades rebounding to two-month highs. China's Rongsheng Petrochemical has bought 2 million barrels of Basra Medium crude from Sinochem via a tender, trade sources said. The cargo is for delivery at the end of March to early April, they said. The price was not immediately known. Thailand's IRPC has bought a cargo each of March-loading Murban and Qatar Marine crude from its tender, traders said. Details on sellers and prices were not immediately available. Qatar Energy has sold three al-Shaheen crude cargoes for March-loading at the highest premiums in two months, in line with the rebound seen for Middle East grades this month, trade sources said. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2TZ05T The producer sold the cargoes at an average premium of $2.67 a barrel to Dubai quotes and set the term price at a premium of $2.78 a barrel, they said, more than $1 a barrel higher than levels seen in the previous month. Buyers were likely Japan's Eneos and India's Reliance Industries Ltd , the traders said. Qatar Energy has also sold a March-loading Qatar Marine crude in a tender to a Japanese end user at a premium of $2-$2.30