SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban eased on Wednesday from record levels as trade for April-loading cargoes wind down towards the end of the month.

Arbitrage windows remained firmly shut as Brent's premium to Dubai swaps edged up 3 cents to $7.48 a barrel, a new high since 2011.

Amid the Ukraine crisis, Russian Urals crude exports are set to rise 15% in March. 

Urals oil cargoes loading in early March were offered at a discount of $6.30 a barrel to dated Brent in the Platts window afternoon session on Tuesday, the widest discount since 2005, traders said and Refinitiv Eikon data showed.

Separately, a senior U.S. State Department official said actions the Biden administration took on Tuesday and may take soon to punish Russia's economy over its aggression in Ukraine are not intended to hit global energy markets. 

 

ASIA-PACIFIC CRUDE

Malaysia's Petronas raised the March price differential for Malaysian Crude Oil price to $6.80 a barrel, up $1 from the previous month.

 

NEWS

The United States and its allies sought to step up sanctions pressure on Russia on Wednesday over the deployment of troops in separatist regions of eastern Ukraine, in one of the worst security crises in Europe in decades. 

Vietnam will auction 100 million litres (26.4 million gallons) of gasoline from its national reserves, state media reported on Tuesday, as a supply shortage enters its second month. 

India could become a global green energy superpower with exports of clean energy rising to $500 billion over the next 20 years, Mukesh Ambani, chairman of oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries, said on Wednesday. 

A London court will on Wednesday begin to hear a lawsuit launched by Nigeria against U.S. bank JP Morgan Chase, claiming more than $1.7 billion for its role in a disputed 2011 oilfield deal.

The White House said on Tuesday the development of Nord Stream 2 is "not moving forward at this point in time" after steps by Germany to halt the Baltic Sea gas pipeline project. 

Sri Lanka has paid $35.3 million for a 40,000 tonne diesel shipment, an energy ministry official said on Wednesday, seeking to stave off rolling power cuts amid a foreign exchange crisis that has hampered purchases of diesel for power plants. 

(Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips) ((Florence.Tan@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: florence.tan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))