Japan earthquake hits main import blends

摘要

Singapore-Sentiment on Middle East and Russian ESPO crudes dipped March 11 after the earthquake in Japan, which forced the shutdown of several refineries and power plants. The bullish run on Middle East crudes ground to a halt, with some softening wit- nessed on benchmark Oman crude, as refin- ers in Asia held back buying activities. The front-month May Oman futures contact on the Dubai Mercantile Exchange also fell for the first time in a week.