UPDATE: Australian Heavy, Sweet Crude Supply To Rise In April

Australia's heavy, sweet crude oil supply will return to normal in April as Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (WPL.AU) is planning to resume exports of Vincent crude after halting shipments for two months due to an outage at the Vincent field in the country's west, traders said Wednesday.

But the higher supply will come just as Asian refiners enter a peak maintenance season in the second quarter, which could further depress premiums. Sentiment may also be damped as exports of similar grades from new Australian oil fields operated by Apache Corp. (APA) and BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP.AU) will start soon.

Woodside has offered around 550,000 barrels of Vincent crude for April loading, they said. The company said in January that the Vincent oil platform, damaged by fire last year, won't be fully operational until the second quarter of 2010.

The producer will also resume exports from the Stybarrow oil field offshore Western Australia state next month after shutting it for 35 days in the first quarter for maintenance.

Woodside and its partners also have one cargo of Stybarrow and two parcels of Enfield crude on offer for April. Each cargo is around 550,000 barrels.

Mitsui & Co. Ltd. (8031.TO) has already sold an Enfield cargo at near $4 a barrel above dated Brent to Australian buyer, down from March's $4.50 a barrel premium, traders said.

For the light, sweet grades, there will be two 600,000-barrel Cossack parcels, five 650,000-barrel North West Shelf condensate cargoes and around 650,000 barrels of Laminaria condensate available for April, they said.

-By Florence Tan, Dow Jones Newswires; 65-6415-4067; florence.tan@dowjones.com

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