Qatar to supply crude allocations to Asia

Qatar, one of Opec's smallest producers, has notified at least two Asian term buyers that it will supply crude oil at full contracted volumes for April, after doing the same for March supplies, trade sources said on Monday.

State oil firm Qatar Petroleum told the term buyers they would receive full contracted volumes of Qatar's Marine and Land crudes and that there would be no changes in its operational tolerance policies for the month, the sources said.

Over the weekend, Opec-member United Arab Emirates told buyers it would deepen the April supply curbs on its main Murban grade, but kept steady or eased supply curbs on some of its other export grades.

Qatar has been supplying full volumes of both grades since last August and the Middle Eastern nation's continuation of the award of full supplies was expected by industry sources and traders.

Several members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries have relaxed their compliance with record production cuts of 4.2 million barrels per day (bpd) agreed to in late 2008.

A Reuters survey last week showed that Opec crude oil supply rose in February to its highest in 14 months, with members of the group making 53 per cent of promised supply cutbacks versus 56 per cent in January.

Opec, the source of more than a third of the world's oil, next meets to set policy on March 17 and the widening gap between its supply target and actual output is likely to be a main topic of debate.