RTRS:Asia-Pacific Crude-Light grades pressured by naphtha, supply
SINGAPORE, April 3 (Reuters) - Light sweet crude and
condensate in Asia came under pressure on Tuesday from weaker
naphtha cracks and rising supply as Indonesia offered two
cargoes for May.
* TENDERS
- Indonesia's BPMIGAS issued two tenders to sell condensate
for May loading. It offered 150,000-300,000 barrels of Senipah
condensate and 200,000-300,000 barrels of Arun condensate. The
tenders will close on April 5 with bids valid until a day later.
The Indonesian supply will add on to unsold cargoes for May
such as North West Shelf (NWS) condensate, Kitan and Cossack.
* SUPPLY
- Vincent crude sellers are still waiting for firm loading
dates from the terminal after production was disrupted by
cyclones. One cargo could be available and it will be marketed
by Woodside.
- Mitsui is marketing the sole Enfield cargo for May. The
spot premium is likely to be lower than the record high of just
over $10 a barrel above dated Brent achieved for April's cargo,
in line with other heavy sweet grades such as Pyrenees and Van
Gogh.
* MARKET NEWS
- Japan needs more time to decide whether to restart two
offline nuclear reactors, the trade minister said on Tuesday, as
concerns about a summer power crunch vie with safety worries in
the wake of last year's Fukushima crisis.
"Our best estimate is that six out of 54 reactors will
restart by peak summer demand in July-August, but we expect the
additional power supplied to meet shortages, rather than
displacing oil," J.P. Morgan analysts led by Lawrence Eagles
said in a note.
"If so, the nuclear restarts could mean little change to our
assumption that utilities may still burn 800,000 barrels per day
(bpd) of oil in power in July and August."
- Typhoon-force winds swept across Japan on Tuesday halting
berthing operations at five refineries at least.
- British oil major BP said it had shut the Valhall platform
in the North Sea last week, while traders said the shutdown led
to loading delays of one of the four crude oil streams used for
the global price benchmark.
- Islamist militants have claimed responsibility for blowing
up an oil pipeline in southern Yemen late on Monday in a second
such attack in retaliation for a U.S. drone strike that killed
five suspected al Qaeda militants on Friday.
CRUDE Price Prev Change
MAY Brent 124.70 122.80 1.90
MAY Brent/Dubai EFS DUB-EFS-1M 3.80 4.05 -0.25
PRODUCT CRACKS Price Prev Change
MAY gasoil crack 15.89 16.04 -0.15
MAY fuel oil crack -6.23 -5.42 -0.80
MAY naphtha crack -7.51 -7.56 0.06
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