SINGAPORE, May 18 (Reuters) - Middle East crude benchmark premiums of Oman, Dubai and Murban dipped on Monday amid thin trading activity, as traders monitored Middle East development while assessing demand outlook.

Oil prices extended gains, driven by increasingly bleak prospects for peace in the Middle East after an attack on a nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates. O/R

China's April crude oil throughput fell to the lowest level since August 2022, official data showed, weighing on the demand outlook.

The run cuts came with oil supply disruption, as the Strait of Hormuz remains shut, and were also driven by negative oil-processing margins.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai's premium to swaps fell 33 cents to $9.89 a barrel.

SELLER-BUYER	PRICE ($/BBL)
BP-VITOL	107.89

PRICES ($/BBL)

	CURRENT	PREV SESSION
GME OMAN	103.37	106.75
GME OMAN DIFF TO DUBAI	9.37	9.67
CASH DUBAI	107.89	107.30

NEWS

Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency, said on Monday that commercial oil inventories were depleting rapidly amid the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and that those inventories only had a few weeks left.

Supertanker Agios Fanourios I is heading for Vietnam to discharge its Iraqi crude oil cargo after it was held by the U.S. Navy for five days in the Gulf of Oman, shipping data on LSEG showed.

The Gulf Mercantile Exchange (GME) posted its strongest trading week last week, with more than 69,000 contracts or 69 million barrels of Oman crude changing hands, it said on Monday.

Russia has high expectations for President Vladimir Putin's trip to China this week, and the two sides will use it to develop their "privileged partnership", the Kremlin said on Monday.

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

Brent	BRENTSGMc1
Dubai	DUBSGSWMc2
GME Oman	OQc1
Brent/Dubai EFS	DUB-EFS-1M
PRODUCT CRACKS
Fuel oil crack	FO180SGCKMc1
Gasoil crack	GO10SGCKMc1
Naphtha crack	NAF-SIN-CRK
Gasoline crack	GL92-SIN-CRK
Complex refining margins	REF/MARGIN1