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Asia oil seen little

affected by

Australia cyclone

TOKYO: Suspensions in Australian oil production are seen having little impact on Asia's market for light sweet crudes, oil traders said on Wednesday.

"A few days' suspension in output may tighten the slack market, but not boost prices," a trading house trader said.

Woodside Petroleum Ltd said on Wednesday it disconnected its Cossack Pioneer oil vessel late on Tuesday due to tropical Cyclone Olivia off the coast of Western Australian.

The emergency measure is seen amounting to a daily loss of 200,000 barrels per day of Cossack and Griffin crude put together, BHP said. Apache Corp also said it halted gas production at its Harriet field west Australia on Wednesday morning and would suspend oil production later in the day. Oil output at Harriet, which produces about 11,000 barrels of oil a day, will be suspended for a minimum of 24 hours, Apache said.

Traders said regional crude prices were not expected to surge as was the case when the Cossack Pioneer was disconnected after a cyclone swept the area in December.

"Prices of alternative crudes to Cossack such as Tapis surged on the previous occasion because the incident coincided with the onset of cold weather which generates strong kerosene demand," a second trader said. But it is highly unlikely prices will soar this time with regional crudes abundant and demand slack, traders said.

Light crudes are in high demand when temperatures are low as they tend to yield a larger amount of lighter oil products such as kerosene, which is used for heating. A slate of refinery turnarounds in Japan in May and June is also denting demand for crude oil, traders said.-Reuter