SINGAPORE, July 29 (Reuters) - Values of Vietnamese crude
for September loading strengthened on Friday, signalling prices
of October-loading cargoes in the Asia-Pacific market to be
traded next month would rebound as demand picks up in northeast
Asia.
* TENDERS
- Vietnam's state oil marketer PV Oil sold two cargoes of
Ruby crude for loading in September at higher premiums than
those last month as demand for southeast Asian grades rebounded
with attractive gas oil margins.
- The 300,000 barrel cargoes, loading Sept. 7-12 and 25-30,
were sold to Vitol and Chevron at a premium of about $4 a barrel
to Minas formula, a trader said on Friday, although this could
not be confirmed. That was up from cargoes sold last month at
premiums of $3.10-$3.50.
- The possibility that nuclear power plants in Japan may not
return from maintenance later this year following the crisis at
the Fukushima reactor raised expectations of stronger demand for
crude, especially Vietnamese Su Tu Den.
- India's largest state-owned refiner, Indian Oil Corp
(IOC), did not award a tender, which was to buy West African
sweet crude oil, traders said on Thursday.
- It was not clear why the tender was not awarded, but some
traders said the price was too high. They expected IOC to issue
another tender to buy West African crude next week.
- Taiwan's CPC Corp has bought at least 2 million barrels,
or one very large crude carrier (VLCC), of West African crude
and probably more via tender, traders said on Thursday.
- CPC bought Nigerian Antan from Unipec and Cabinda from
Sonangol. The loading date for Antan is Sept. 20-21. The date
for Cabinda and price details of both cargoes did not emerge.
- Some traders said CPC might have bought another VLCC of
West African crude via the same tender, but this was not
confirmed.
* EAST/WEST
- The Brent/Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS) for
September fell 30 cents to $5.51 a barrel at 0830 GMT, Reuters
data showed. The front-month EFS on June 15 touched $9.20, the
highest intraday value since the spread reached a record of
almost $12 in October 2004.
* MARKET NEWS
- India is trying to make initial payments for oil to Iran
through a Turkish bank, Oil Minister S. Jaipal Reddy said on
Friday, after the Islamic Republic halted shipments for August
over debts which now mount to some $5 billion.
- Japan's total oil product sales in June fell 2.7 percent
from a year earlier, falling for the fourth straight month after
the March earthquake and tsunami disrupted refinery operations
and curbed economic activity, government data showed on Friday.
- Oil continues to leak at two oilfield platforms of
ConocoPhillips in China's northern Bohai Bay, two weeks
after the Chinese government ordered the Houston company to halt
production, the official Xinhua news agency said on Friday.
* CRACK SPREADS
- Fuel oil's August and September cracks both widened 26
cents to a discount of $7.28 and $7.93 a barrel to Dubai crude
respectively.
- Gas oil's August and September cracks were both a slight 3
cents lower at premium of $17.92 and $18.31 a barrel to Dubai
crude respectively.
- Naphtha's front-month September crack widened 19 cents to
a discount of $6.68, while the October contract weakened 22
cents to a discount of $6.44 a barrel to Brent crude.
(Reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa, editing by Jane Baird)
