Middle East Crude-Discounts narrow with wider EFS

SINGAPORE, Aug 15 (Reuters) - A widening premium of
Brent-related grades rendered Middle East crude more competitive
on Monday, helping reduce the discounts of Qatari al-Shaheen and
Oman as demand improved from buyers across Asia.
Qatari heavy sour al-Shaheen was valued at a discount of
20-30 cents to Dubai quotes, up from discounts as wide as 40
cents last week for October-loading lots. Results for Tasweeq's
tender for nine cargoes were expected on Tuesday.
Oman crude cargoes for October rebounded to as high as parity
with Dubai quotes from a discount of about 20 cents on Friday,
on expectations that demand from northeast Asian and Indian
refiners would pick up in the absence of arbitrage crude flows
from the Atlantic Basin.
The rising premium of European marker Brent LCOc1 over
Middle Eastern Dubai was restricting the flow of West African
supplies to Asia, traders said, benefiting values of Middle East
grades.
Timespreads on the Dubai swaps curve continued to
strengthen, narrowing the discount of September to October to 14
cents from 16 cents on Friday. This shallower contango market
structure is reflective of tightening supplies.

* EAST/WEST
- The Brent/Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS) for
September rose 10 cents to $5.45 a barrel at 0830 GMT, Reuters
data showed. The front-month EFS on June 15 touched $9.20, the
highest intraday value since the spread reached a record of
almost $12 in October 2004.

* DME OMAN
- September Oman traded on the DME slipped 16 cents to a
discount of 3 cents 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.

* MARKET NEWS
- Iran hopes oil deliveries to India will return to a normal
level now a long-running payment problem has been resolved, the
head of international affairs at the National Iranian Oil Co.
said in an interview.
- PetroRabigh has asked contractors for
expressions of interest in building parts of an estimated $6-8
billion second phase of its sprawling petrochemical complex in
Saudi Arabia, industry sources said.
- The United States on Friday for the first time called on
countries to stop buying Syrian oil and gas as it sought to
build pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to end a
brutal crackdown against protesters.

* CRACK SPREADS
- Gas oil's September crack slipped 14 cents to a premium of
$18.77, while the October crack was 14 cents lower at a premium
of $18.61 a barrel to Dubai crude.
- Fuel oil's September crack widened 19 cents to a discount
of $5.42 a barrel.
- Naphtha's September crack was 14 cents wider at a discount
of $5.48 a barrel, while the October contract was also 32 cents
weaker at minus $5.63.

*OUTRIGHT PRICES
- September ICE Brent LCOc1 rose to $108.37 a barrel at
0830 GMT, up 64 cents from the same time on Friday.

(Reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa)