SINGAPORE, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Asia-Pacific crude oil
market held steady on Thursday as traders eyed arbitrage
opportunities following an impending closure of Petroplus'
refineries in Europe.
Petroplus said on Tuesday lenders had frozen about $1
billion in borrowing allowances the company relies on to buy
crude oil, sending shares of Europe's top independent refiner
down to their all-time low.
The Swiss-based refiner processes Urals, UK Forties and
Nigerian Bonny Light which could be shipped to Asia, depending
on arbitrage economics and demand in Europe, traders said.
* TENDERS
- Rosneft offered two 100,000-tonne cargoes of Russian ESPO
crude to load on Feb. 13-16 and 25-28 in a tender that will
close later on Thursday.
- South Sudan sold one of two Nile Blend cargoes for January
loading in a tender to Unipec at a premium of $2.60 a barrel to
the Minas Indonesia Crude Price (ICP). It was not immediately
clear who bought the second cargo.
* TRADES
- ConocoPhillips sold three 200,000-barrel cargoes of
Vietnamese Rang Dong to Petrobras for February loading at a
premium of about $7 a barrel to the Minas formula.
The premium is similar to the level Petrobras paid for
Vietnamese Ruby in a tender. All the crude will be processed at
Petrobras' refinery in Okinawa, Japan.
* SUPPLY
- Woodside and Mitsui are still holding on to a Cossack
cargo each for February loading. Offers were heard at around $3
a barrel above dated Brent.
* EFS
- Front-month Brent/Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps
(EFS) for January DUB-EFS-1M fell 25 cents from Wednesday to
$3.65 a barrel.
* MARKET NEWS
- Iran's navy does not have the size for a sustained
physical blockade of the Strait, but does have mine-laying and
missile capability to wreak some havoc, analysts
said.
- China urged peace and stability on Thursday after Tehran
threatened to punish proposed Western sanctions by choking off
oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, but declined to make any
other comment about the crisis.
- France's government offered embattled Swiss refiner
Petroplus help in its talk with lenders as the firm neared a
stoppage of its plants in five European countries due to a lack
of crude while an angry trade union called for their
nationalisation.
- China has increased restrictions on foreign investment in
its refining sector, while encouraging participation in
developing unconventional oil and gas resources, the latest
guidelines published by the National Development and Reform
Commission show.
- Vietnam produced an estimated 15.18 million tonnes, or
305,000 barrels per day (bpd), of crude oil this year, a rise of
1.1 percent from 2010, the government said.
* REFINERY MARGINS
- Complex processing margins for Dubai in Singapore were
around $7.51 per barrel, down from an average of the last five
days of $7.52, Reuters data show. Over the last year, the
average margin has been around $8.23 per barrel.
* CRACK SPREADS
- Fuel oil's January crack narrowed 72 cents to a discount
of $2.86 a barrel to Dubai crude.
- Gasoil's January crack rose 48 cents to a premium of
$17.30 a barrel to Dubai crude.
- The naphtha CFR Japan front-month crack narrowed 21 cents
to a discount of $8.01 a barrel to Brent.
* OUTRIGHT PRICES
- February ICE Brent was at $107.79 a barrel at 0830
GMT, down 74 cents from Wednesday.
