QatarEnergy has lowered the term price for al-Shaheen crude oil loading in April, trade sources said on Monday, from what was the highest premium in more than two years.

The term price was set at $3.50 per barrel above Dubai quotes, down from the premium of $3.81 per barrel set for March-loading cargoes, the sources said.

The price last month came just the week after the U.S. announced aggressive sanctions on Russian energy trade that immediately boosted oil prices and shipping costs.

Since then, the market has cooled slightly but remains higher than the level before January.

Premiums for Middle East benchmarks eased to about $3 per barrel last week, after rallying to above $5 per barrel about one month earlier.

Despite the decline, the latest term price by Qatar stood close to the level highest since December 2022.

Qatar awarded the al-Shaheen cargoes to Glencore at the term price, it also sold a Qatar Land crude cargo at a premium of about $2 a barrel above Dubai prices to Vitol, the sources said.

The sources declined to be named because they are not authorized to speak to media. The companies typically do not comment on commercial deals.

All the cargoes are 500,000 barrels each.