RTRS:Asia-Pacific Crude-ESPO falls on poor margins
SINGAPORE, March 9 (Reuters) - Sweet crude slipped in
Asia on Friday after Russian ESPO for April was sold about $1 a
barrel lower in premiums from the previous month on weak
refining margins.
* TENDERS
- Surgutneftgaz sold two 730,000-barrel cargoes of ESPO
crude for loading in April at premiums of about $5 a barrel to
Dubai quotes, traders said, although this could not be
confirmed.
Shell bought the cargo that will load on April 9-10 while
Gunvor took the April 12-13 cargo.
- Vietnam's PV Oil has sold 200,000 barrels of Rong Doi
condensate at a narrower discount than the previous deal as
naphtha cracks have improved, trade sources said.
The cargo to load on April 21-27 was sold to an oil major at
a discount of $5.50 a barrel to Tapis APPI.
* TRADES
- Shell offered the April 9-10 ESPO cargo while Concord is
offered an April 5-8 parcel it bought from TNK-BP at just above
$5 a barrel to Dubai quotes, traders said. These cargoes were
offered at premiums higher than $5 a barrel above Dubai quotes.
- More details emerged for April North West Shelf (NWS)
condensate deals. BHP and Petronas likely sold their cargoes to
Shell and PTT, respectively, at discounts between $3.70-$4.00 a
barrel to dated Brent, similar to March levels.
The lack of Chinese buying interest and an uncertain outlook
for naphtha prevented discounts from narrowing, traders said.
Shell and Woodside still held onto a cargo each.
Unipec, trading arm of Asia's largest refiner Sinopec and
also one of the larger buyers of condensate from the region in
the past three months, has resumed purchases of Iranian
condensate after protracted talks on term supply.
- Petrobras earlier bought 650,000 barrels of NWS condensate
cargo from BP at $2.60 a barrel below dated Brent and 300,000
barrels of Laminaria from Woodside at a discount of $3.
* OSPs
- Malaysia's Petronas raised the Tapis crude price alpha
factor for March liftings to an all-time high of $8.65 per
barrel, up 65 cents from the previous month, a trade source
said.
The hike followed strong April spot premiums fetched for
Malaysian grades as supply of sweet crude tightened in Asia due
to disruptions in Australia and South Sudan.
* MARKET NEWS
- China's implied oil demand rose nearly 5 percent
year-on-year in January, a touch below December's all-time
record high, as refineries ramped up production and new
processing facilities started up.
- Iraq began loading oil from a long-awaited new floating
Single Point Mooring (SPM) platform in the Gulf on Thursday, two
sources at the state-owned South Oil Company said, in a
breakthrough that could substantially boost its exports.
CRUDE Price Prev Change
APRIL Brent 125.21 125.08 0.13
APRIL Brent/Dubai EFS 3.63 3.45 -0.18
