RTRS:Asia-Pacific Crude-Light sweet up on margins, tighter supply
SINGAPORE, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Light sweet grades rose in the
Asia-Pacific crude market on Tuesday on stronger margins and
tighter supply following an outage at the Kumul terminal.
Oil Search said it planned to resume operations at
the Kumul terminal this week after repairs to stop an oil
leakage. The Papua New Guinea producer stopped about 5,000
barrels per day (bpd) of Kutubu crude in early August.
It has delayed the loading of one cargo each in August and
September and it remained unclear whether there will be any in
October.
Brent's premium to Dubai has eased, reducing a downward
pressure on differentials for regional grades linked to the
European benchmark.
Tight supply in the North Sea should ease after maintenance
at the Buzzard field is completed after September, as increased
supply from the Forties stream, planned refinery maintenance in
the Atlantic Basin and a potential return of Sudanese and South
Sudanese supply portend to a more comfortable fourth quarter
crude balance, Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note.
* TENDERS
- Thai refiner IRPC bought 1.2 million barrels of sweet
crude for delivery in the first half of October, double the
volume from September, traders said.
The refiner bought about 600,000 barrels of North West Shelf
(NWS) condensate and 600,000 barrels of Bach Ho from unknown
buyers, they said.
IRPC purchased the NWS condensate cargo at a discount of
about $5-$6 a barrel to dated Brent on a cost-and-freight (C&F)
basis, one source said.
- Malaysia's Petronas sold 300,000 barrels of Tapis crude
for October at a higher premium than the previous month after
refining margins improved and supply of light sweet crude
tightened, traders said.
The producer sold the cargo for Oct. 23-29 loading to
Chevron at a premium of about $3.50 a barrel to dated Brent,
they said. This is the third Malaysian crude cargo Chevron
bought for October.
- Vietnam's PV Oil sold 200,000 barrels of Rang Dong crude
for loading on Oct. 10-16 at a lower premium than the previous
deal, traders said.
The cargo was sold to Japanese trader Petrodiamond at a
premium of about $1 a barrel to dated Brent, they said.
This is much lower than the crude's official selling price
(OSP), which was set at $2.50 a barrel above dated Brent after
PV Oil sold supply for October to March 2013 loading.
- PV Oil has offered Ruby crude to be priced on dated Brent
for the first time, moving a step closer to a complete switch to
the price reference for all its grades, a trade source said.
In the tender, the two 250,000-barrel cargoes will load on
Oct. 10-16 and 24-30. The tender will close on Aug. 23, with
bids valid until a day later.
- India's MRPL bought two 600,000-650,000 barrel cargoes of
Gabon's Rabi Blend crude from Shell for lifting in September and
October.
The oil major sold the September cargo at a discount of
about $1.60 a barrel to dated Brent while the October cargo has
been sold at a discount of 60-80 cents a barrel, trade sources
said.
Subsequently, MRPL issued another tender seeking 600,000
barrels of sweet crude for loading during Oct. 1-15. The tender
will close on Aug. 23 with offers to remain valid until Aug. 27.
* MARKET NEWS
- Japan's top oil refiner JX Nippon Oil & Energy said on
Monday that a fire late the day before at one of the three
gas-fired power generating units at its Sendai refinery had not
affected refining operations.
- Iraq's oil exports from its southern ports have risen by
30,000 barrels per day (bpd) so far in August versus last month,
according to shipping data tracked by Reuters, putting shipments
on course to reach a post-war record.
CRUDE Price Prev Change
OCT Brent 114.53 114.08 +0.45
OCT Brent/Dubai EFS 3.87 3.83 -0.04
