Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) on Wednesday raised the March retroactive price of key Murban crude to $102.20 a barrel, the first time it was set above $100 a barrel, in line with new record highs for oil price last month.

The March official selling price (OSP), which is up $7.10 from February, comes after strong demand for the middle distillates-rich grade prompted Adnoc to hike Murban's premium to benchmark Dubai crude to a record-high of $5.44 a barrel.

"This is very high," a term lifter said, after Adnoc raised Murban's premium by a hefty 36 cents a barrel from February's $5.08 premium.

Murban crude was seen trading at premiums of up to 30 cents  barrel to Adnoc last month, traders said.

Murban, Lower Zakum and Umm Shaif crudes all benefited from a still strong gas oil crack to Dubai, which stood at a strong $27.10 premium on Wednesday after having briefly surged over $30 in late March.

Benchmark Dubai crude averaged a record-high $96.76 a barrel in March. Adnoc raised the price for Lower Zakum by $7 to $102.15 a barrel and that for Umm Shaif by $7.05 to $101.35 a barrel.

It set the Upper Zakum OSP at $97.55, up from $90.75 for February.

The UAE is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter. Its output stood at around 2.59 million bpd in March, a Reuters survey showed.-Reuters