Traders said September Qatar Marine was sold by a European major to a Japanese refiner at a premium of 1.5 cents per barrel to the QGPC price.A second cargo was also sold by another European major to the same refiner, at QGPC +1.5/2 cents per barrel, they said.

Price levels were higher than those for August cargoes, as August Qatar Marine cargoes were traded at discounts of around 20 cents to QGPC.

Some traders said they were surprised that September trading had begun so early, when August barrels were still on offer. They said a small parcel of Murban and some Oman barrels were still unsold for August, but added that there was still enough buying interest to soak up these remaining supplies."No one's really nervous about these August barrels," said a trader with a major oil company.

"The fact thatSeptember trading has started so early and at these levels may be an indication that Japanese demand will be quite big," he added.There was also persistent talk about a semi-term sale of Iraqi Basrah Light crude sold by China to a US company, but the trade could not be confirmed, and details were still vague. Traders said a Chinese oil company had sold 7.2 million barrels of Basrah Light to a US oil company, for lifting between July and December.

"All we know is that something was done, that Chinese barrels are going to the US, but we don't have any details yet," said a trader.

In the regional crude market, 155,000 barrels of August Minas were sold by a Japanese trader to a Japanese refiner, at a 60-cent premium to the ICP, reflecting the continued strength in the heavy sweet Asian crude market.But traders were still waiting for the outcome of the Indonesian export allocations for August for a clear idea of August availabilities.

On the futures market, August Brent on Simex traded two cents higher at$13.36 at 0335 GMT, after London IPE prices fell by nine cents to settle at $12.93 on Wednesday, on pre-expiry selling.

On the Brent cash market, the August/September inter-on th spreads were assessed by brokers at -36/-33, while September/October was offered at -27, looking for a bid.

August Nymex on the after hours Access was up by two cents to $14.89, after New York closed 32 cents higher at $14.87, supported by a crude stock drawdown of 6.7 million barrels reported by the US department of energy (DOE). The DOE data correlated with earlier statistics released by the American Petroleum Institute (API), which showed a 6.3 million barrel fall in weekly crude stocks.