RTRS:Middle East Crude-Formosa buys at weaker differentials
SINGAPORE, July 23 (Reuters) - The Middle East crude market
remained weak on Monday as Formosa purchased Oman and Qatar
Marine at weaker differentials than last week's deals indicating
that refinery closures in Japan and Thailand weighed on demand.
Last week, Japanese refiner Idemitsu shut about a third of
its capacity after a fire while JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp shut
a refinery for an unexpected safety check.
Thai refiner Bangchak also shut its refinery after a fire
earlier this month.
* TENDERS
- Formosa bought two cargoes each of Qatar Marine and Oman
crude via tender to load in September, industry sources said.
It bought Qatar Marine at a discount of about 70 cents per
barrel to the official selling price (OSP) and Oman crude at a
premium of 90 cents per barrel to Dubai quotes.
In the spot market last week, September Qatar Marine was
traded at a slight discount to OSP, while September Oman was
traded at a premium of just under $1 to OSP, indicating prices
have weakened further.
Last month, Formosa bought Oman for loading in August at a
premium of 60 cents per barrel to Dubai quotes.
- Taiwan's CPC has floated a tender to buy sweet and sour
grades of crude for September loading. The company did not
specify a size for the tender, whose result is expected by the
end of the week.
- Russia's TNK-BP and Surgut have each closed a tender to
sell September-October ESPO.
* MARKET NEWS
- China's crude oil imports from Iran rose to their highest
in nearly a year in June despite tough Western sanctions
targeting Iran's oil shipments.
- South Korea imported 5.29 million barrels of Iranian crude
oil in June, down 24.4 percent from a year ago, a month before
it completely stopped imports due to European Union sanctions.
