Pacific crude exports seen steady in May - trade

SINGAPORE, March 18 (Reuters) - Exports of sweet crudes and condensate from Australia, Papua New Guinea and East Timor are expected to be largely steady in May with weak demand from refiners undergoing maintenance to weigh on differentials, traders said on Tuesday.

At least 12 cargoes of sweet crude and condensate will be available for May loading, compared with 13 in April. Availability could be slightly higher with loading programmes for some grades yet to be finalised and a few April-loading cargoes still unsold.

Australia's Woodside WPL.AX could still hold one cargo each of heavy sweet Vincent and Northwest Shelf (NWS) condensate for April-loading, traders said. In addition, ConocoPhillips

COP.N may still hold an April-cargo of Bayu Undan, they said.

Ample supplies in May of Asia-Pacific grades, especially from Vietnam, along with weakness in Middle East grades are expected to weigh on differentials for grades form the Pacific region.

"The market looks very weak with refiners in turnaround. Sellers will have a hard time especially in the second half of May," a Singapore-based trader said.

For light sweet grades, Japan's Mitsui 8031.T will load a mid-month Cossack cargo, while ExxonMobil XOM.N will load Kutubu towards the end of May.

For the condensates, Woodside will load NWS on May 3-7, Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.AS on May 13-17, MIMI on May 22-26 cargo, and BHP Billiton a cross-month cargo on May 30-June 3.

ConocoPhillips will load one cargo of Bayu Undan around the middle of May, while no Kitan were expected for the month, traders said.

For the heavy sweet grades, one Enfield could be loaded in end-May, although it was more likely the cargo would load in June, a trader said.

At least two cargoes of Pyrenees are expected with one loading in early-May and another in the middle of the month. A third cargo could also be loaded towards the very end of the month, a trader said.

Below is a table of Australia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea crude and condensate exports:

------------------------------------------------ GRADE CARGO SIZE MAY APR ------------------------------------------------ Enfield 550KB 0 0 Stybarrow 550KB 0 0 Vincent 550KB 2 2 Pyrenees 500KB 2 2 Van Gogh 400KB 0 0 Cossack 650KB 1 1 Kutubu 650KB 1 2 Kitan 500-600KB 0 0 NWS Cond 600KB 4 4 Bayu Undan 650KB 1 2 Pluto 650KB 0-1 0 Laminaria 650KB 0-1 0

Total: 12-13 13

Source: Trade

(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Anand Basu)

((jacob.pedersen@thomsonreuters.com; +65 6417 4529; Reuters Messaging: jacob.pedersen.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: PACIFIC CRUDE/EXPORTS