Middle East Crude-Dubai falls; Saudi raises May OSPs for Asia

Middle East Crude-Dubai falls; Saudi raises May OSPs for Asia

SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmark Dubai fell on Monday, after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, last week agreed to gradually ease its oil output cuts from May.The group, which has implemented deep cuts since a pandemic-induced oil price collapse in 2020, agreed to ease production curbs by 350,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May, another 350,000 bpd in June and a further 400,000 bpd or so in July. Saudi Arabia increased the price of its Arab light crude for the Asian market by 40 cents a barrel in May, compared with April, in line with market expectations. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) made its first purchase of Norway's Johan Sverdrup crude, buying four million barrels via a tender, as it speeds up diversification of crude imports. Indonesia's Pertamina closed a spot tender to seek crude for June.ASIA-PACIFIC CRUDE:The official selling price (OSP) of a basket of March-loading Malaysian crude oil grades has been set at $67.63 a barrel, up $2.71 from $64.92 a barrel in February. REFINERYOperations at Indonesia's state oil company PT Pertamina's 125,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Balongan may return to normal this week, following a fire in some parts of the refinery, a company director told