SINGAPORE, May 7 (Reuters) - Middle East crude benchmark premiums of Oman, Dubai and Murban edged lower on Thursday, amid growing expectations of a peace deal between Washington and Tehran that could ease supply shortage.

Trade activity stayed light on Thursday.

A report from Saudi Arabia's Al Arabiya news agency on Thursday said that understandings have been reached to ease the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports in exchange for a gradual reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

Iran had said on Wednesday that it was reviewing a U.S. peace proposal that sources said would formally end the war while leaving unresolved the key U.S. demands that Iran suspend its nuclear programme and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Brent, Oman and Murban futures all slid on Thursday.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Cash Dubai's premium to swaps fell 83 cents to $6.98 a barrel.

PRICES ($/BBL)

NEWS

Shell's SHEL.L first-quarter profit beat estimates and hit its highest in two years at $6.9 billion on Thursday, boosted by gains linked to the Middle East war, leading the company to raise the dividend by 5%.

Vietnam's largest refinery, Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical LLC, is considering quarterly tenders and spot cargo procurement to secure sufficient crude oil for its operations as the crisis in the Middle East continues to disrupt supplies, the company said on Thursday.

China's financial regulator has advised the country's largest lenders to temporarily suspend new loans to five refineries recently sanctioned by the U.S. over their ties to Iranian oil, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Oil supplies are set to tighten further in coming weeks even if the U.S. and Iran agree on a peace deal because it will take weeks for oil shipments to resume from the Middle East Gulf and reach refiners worldwide - so oil companies will continue to deplete storage tanks to meet peak summer demand.

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

RECENT CRUDE OIL TRADES:
Asia ACRU/T  Europe CRU/T Americas CRU/TU
      
CRUDE OIL MARKET NEWS      
Crude oil tenders in Asia                       CRU/TENDA
Crude oil supply outages in Asia                CRU/OUT-ASIA-O      
Refinery outages in Asia                        REF/OUT-ASIA-O      
Global arbitrage news and flows                 O/CRUDEARB      
W.African crude imports to Asia,  monthly       O/WAFRICA1      
REFINERY MAINTENANCE DIARIES      
Asia REF/A   Middle East REF/ME   Europe REF/E      
                       
NATIONAL CRUDE IMPORT DATA      
Japan     METI/JP1   China   O/CHINA1      
India     O/INDIA2   S.Korea O/KOREA1      
Indonesia O/INDO1-CRU         
                       
CRUDE OIL INVENTORY DATA      
Japan O/JAPAN1  US EIA/S  Europe O/EUROIL1      
                    
CRUDE OIL PRODUCTION/OILFIELD NEWS      
OPEC output survey OPEC/O          New Africa fields    AFR/NEW 
New projects       ENERGY/NEW      New Americas  fields AM/NEW
CRUDE OIL MARKET REPORTS      
Middle East             CRU/MAsia-Pacific         CRU/AP      
West Africa             CRU/WAF  North Sea            CRU/E      
Asia outlook            ASIA/CRU Europe outlook       EUR/CRU      
Global futures report   O/R      Technicals report    O/I      
                            
PRICES      
For all Official Selling  Prices       OSP/O      
For a POLL on oil  prices              O/POLL      
NYMEX and ICE oil  futures             OILOIL      
TOCOM crude oil  futures               0#JCO:      
Dubai, Oman swaps and  spread          ASIA/SWAP/CRUDE      
Middle East physical crude diffs       CRUDE/ASIA2      
Australia physical crude, Tapis swaps  CRUDE/ASIA1      
Asia-Pacific physical crude            CRUDE/ASIA3      
All Asian crude oil  differentials     0#C-DIF-A
All Asian crude oil outright  prices   0#C-A