SINGAPORE, March 14 (Reuters) - Middle East crude benchmark Dubai extended gains on Friday with Vitol receiving another two Upper Zakum cargoes from PetroChina bringing its tally this month to 12 cargoes.

PetroChina has delivered 11 of the 12 cargoes to Vitol so far with the remaining one from Hengli Petrochemical, trade sources said, following deals on the Dubai window.

Vitol was also the top buyer in QatarEnergy's al-Shaheen tender, snapping up four cargoes at a premium of $1.17 a barrel above Dubai quotes, they said, adding that the remaining cargo was awarded to China's CNOOC at a premium of $1.30 a barrel.

QatarEnergy lowered the May term price for al-Shaheen crude oil to $1.29 a barrel above Dubai quotes after the tender.

The cargoes are to load on May 1-2, 14-15, 15-16, 27-28 and 28-29.

Last month, QatarEnergy sold April-loading al-Shaheen crude at a premium of $3.50 a barrel to Glencore. CRU/TENDA

Separately, QatarEnergy also sold a Qatar Land crude cargo to Shell at a premium of 60 cents a barrel to Dubai quotes and a Qatar Marine cargo to Japanese refiner Eneos at 45 cents above Dubai quotes, the sources said.

In other trades, Thailand's Bangchak Petroleum bought 1 million barrels of U.S. West Texas Intermediate $(WTI)$ crude from Vitol for late May delivery, a trader said. The price was likely close to $4 a barrel above dated Brent on a delivered basis, he added.

SAUDI ALLOCATION

Saudi Arabia's shipments of crude oil to its biggest customer, China, are expected to drop in April to their lowest in more than a year, trade sources said on Thursday, partly due to maintenance at Chinese refineries owned by Sinopec.

The OPEC producer allocated about 35.5 million barrels of Saudi oil in April to its Chinese customers, down from 41 million in the previous month, Reuters data showed.

RUSSIAN CRUDE

Chinese state oil companies are shying away from Russian oil this month, with two importers halting purchases while two others scaled back volumes as they assess compliance following recent U.S. sanctions on Moscow, multiple trade sources said.

Sinopec 600028.SS and Zhenhua Oil halted purchases of March-loading Russian oil due to concerns over dealing with the sanctioned firms, sources with knowledge of the matter said.

PetroChina 601857.SS, a longstanding ESPO buyer from top Russian producer Rosneft ROSN.MM, however, continued with seaborne purchases in March but at lower volumes, two of the sources said.

CNOOC, which regularly buys and trades Russian oil, has also cut back on March-loading volumes, traders said.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai's premium to swaps rose 8 cents to $1.42 a barrel.

PRICES ($/BBL)

NEWS

OPEC+ has exported a record amount of refined products, blunting the impact of the group's crude output curbs, as members including Saudi Arabia, seek to boost their revenues and market share, according to industry data and analysts.

The Trump administration said on Thursday that the wind-down of a license allowing energy transactions with Russian financial institutions expired this week, raising pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to come to a peace agreement over Ukraine.

Russia is using cryptocurrencies in its oil trade with China and India to skirt Western sanctions, according to four sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on Iran's Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad and some Hong Kong-flagged vessels that are part of a shadow fleet that helps disguise Iranian oil shipments, the Treasury Department said.

For crude prices, oil product cracks and refining margins, please click on the RICs below.

(Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

((Florence.Tan@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: florence.tan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net/))

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