Middle East Crude-April Murban slips into deeper discount - Reuters

SINGAPORE, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Values in the Middle
East crude market slipped further on Monday, with differentials
for the benchmark Murban grade weighed down by weak demand and
softer middle distillate cracks.	
    At least one April-lifting cargo of the Abu Dhabi crude was
traded at a discount of around 20 cents a barrel to ADNOC
official selling prices, down nearly 10 cents from week-ago
values, traders said.	
    Asian front-month gasoil cracks are trading just above
$16.00 a barrel, slipping from the previous session, Reuters
data showed.	
        	
    *OMAN ASSESSMENTS	
    - April Oman traded on the DME was higher at a premium of
$2.32 to Dubai swap quotes at 0830 GMT, using the settlement
price for DME futures, the ICE one-minute marker for Singapore
and the Brent-Dubai EFS as calculated by Reuters.	
               
    *EFS	
    - Front-month Brent/Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps
(EFS) for April eased 63 cents from the previous session to
$3.70 a barrel. 	
               
    *MARKET NEWS	
    - China rebuked Iran on Monday for stopping oil sales to
British and French companies at the weekend, calling for renewed
efforts at dialogue over an escalating stand-off over Tehran's
controversial nuclear programme. 	
    - Japan's top buyer of Iranian crude, Showa Shell Sekiyu KK
, is not expected to suffer any impact from Iran's
decision to halt oil sales to French and British companies, the
firm, an affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell, said on
Monday. 	
    - Taiwan cut its imports of Iranian crude by nearly half in
2011 from the previous year ahead of tougher sanctions by the
West on Tehran and on lower refinery throughput, government data
showed on Monday. 	
    -   J.P. Morgan Chase raised its 2012 price forecast
for Brent crude by $6 to $118 a barrel on supply risks
and rising economic growth. 	
    	
    *REFINERY MARGINS  	
   - Complex processing margins for Dubai in Singapore were
around $7.84 per barrel, down from an average of the last five
days of $8.52, according to Reuters data. Over the last year,
the average margin has been around $8.19 per barrel.
  	
     	
   * CRACK SPREADS  	
   - Fuel oil's March crack slipped 77 cents to a discount of
$5.49 a barrel to Dubai crude.	
   - Gas oil's March crack fell 59 cents to a premium of $16.15
a barrel to Dubai crude.	
   - The naphtha CFR Japan front-month crack narrowed 10 cents
to a discount of $6.74 a barrel to Brent.	
                
    *OUTRIGHT PRICES    
    - April ICE Brent was at $120.46 a barrel at 0830 
GMT, down 13 cents from the same time a day earlier. 	
    - April Oman rose 55 cents to settle at $119.08.	
	
 (Reporting by Luke Pachymuthu; editing by Miral Fahmy)