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Premiums for U.S. Mars unrefined exports to Asia jump after Mexico cuts supply, sources say

Area premiums for U.S. Mars unrefined exports to Asia have actually leapt after Mexico cancelled deliveries to conserve oil for domestic use and amid tightened supply of heavier grades internationally, trade sources said on Wednesday.

Deals for the medium-sour Mars crude soared to premiums above $6 a barrel to Dubai quotes for shipment to Asia in July, the sources said, similar to light sweet West Texas Intermediate oil which is of much better quality.

This was up from about $3.50 a barrel for June delivery, one of the sources said.

The dive in prices has actually shut the arbitrage, preventing Mars from being delivered to Asia and keeping the supply within the U.S. for refiners short on Mexican crude, the sources stated.

Heavy oil supply tightened up after Mexico's state energy business Pemex requested its trading system to cancel as much as 436,000 barrels each day (bpd) of crude exports this month as it gets ready to process domestic oil at the brand-new Dos Bocas refinery, an internal file seen showed.

The impacted heavy grades were Mexico's flagship Maya, Isthmus and Olmeca generally exported to complicated refineries in the United States, Europe and Asia.

In March, Mexican crude shipments to Asia slipped 12.4% on year to about 200,000 bpd, with the volume split similarly between South Korea and India, information from shiptracking firm Kpler showed.

The fall in Mexican shipments comes on the back of a sharp decline in exports of Upper Zakum crude from the United Arab Emirates after Abu Dhabi National Oil Business (ADNOC) diverted more supply to its own refinery.

Tightening up heavy crude supply has pressed Middle East oil benchmarks Dubai and Oman to their highest premiums in 6 months.