OREANDA-NEWS. February 17, 2015. The Middle East crude market remained supported on Monday amid solid demand from Asian refiners and concerns over weather-related delays in supply from Iraq.

Maersk Oil sold heavy sour al-Shaheen at \\$0.80-\\$1 per barrel below Dubai quotes, traders said. Last month, the grade was sold at a discount of \\$2.64 a barrel on average in a tender by Tasweeq.

On Friday, Tasweeq closed a tender to sell three cargoes of April-loading al-Shaheen.

The United Arab Emirates' Upper Zakum grade traded at 15-20 cents per barrel above its official selling price, traders said, up from around parity last month.

Unipec declared an Upper Zakum cargo to Shell after convergence of 20 Dubai partials in the window, a trader said.

Some refiners may postpone plans for spring maintenance as they seek to boost runs at a time of high profits from processing crude into refined products, traders said.

Complex refining margins in the Singapore hub have averaged just below \\$9 a barrel over the last week, up from around \\$7.60 in January and just above \\$6 in December.

"Exceptionally strong refinery margins and a soft maintenance schedule may skew the normal seasonality of refinery runs and push more weakness into early summer," Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note.

Last year, elevated global refinery runs in March-May resulted in oil product builds and weak margins in the early summer.

"Higher starting product stocks could make the payback more severe this time," they said.

Concerns over supply of Iraqi Basra Light crude also supported differentials after loadings had been disrupted this month due to poor weather.