SINGAPORE, May 17 (Reuters) - Asia-Pacific crude market was
mixed on Thursday as limited supply supported heavy grades while
a strong Minas price reference depressed demand for Vietnamese
Ruby.
* TRADE
- BHP and Inpex have each sold a Pyrenees cargo for July
loading at a premium of $7.70-$7.80 a barrel to dated Brent, a
trader said. Inpex sold its cargo to an unknown term buyer while
it was not immediately clear who bought BHP's cargo. The deals
could not be confirmed.
A June cargo earlier bought by ConocoPhillips was deferred
to load in early July instead.
Limited supply and robust demand from Japan underpinned
heavy sweet crude values in Asia. Inpex has sold the only Van
Gogh cargo for July to Japan for direct-burning at power plants.
"We remain optimistic on oil demand from Japanese utilities
and believe that over the approaching peak summer demand months
(July-September), consumption of crude and fuel oil should
average around 510,000 barrels per day (bpd) per month,
reflecting an increase of 180,000 bpd on year," JBC Energy
analysts said in a note.
* TENDERS
- Vietnam's PV Oil sold two cargoes of Ruby crude for July
loading at the lowest premium in at least 18 months as a strong
Minas price reference depresses demand for the grade, trade
sources said.
The two 300,000-barrel cargoes to load July 8-14 and July
25-31 were sold to Chevron at $1 a barrel above the Minas
formula, they said.
Refiners are shunning Minas-linked grades as the price
reference crude has stayed strong this year, traders said.
The Minas formula, the average of price assessments from
Platts and APPI, has been about $5 a barrel above dated Brent
for the past two months, they added.
- TNK-BP sold a cargo of June-July ESPO Blend crude at a
slightly lower premium than the previous deal for the Russian
grade as the loading schedule was prompt, traders said.
The 730,000-barrel cargo to load on June 30-July 3 was sold
to Japanese refiner JX Nippon Oil & Energy Group at a premium of
about $4.05 a barrel to Dubai quotes, they said. The deal could
not be confirmed.
Traders had expected the premium to fall below $4 a barrel
because of the prompt loading schedule, but its value was
supported by firm demand from Japan.
* MARKET NEWS
- China's imports of West African crude oil were expected to
dip in June from May, but the volume was significantly higher
than a year ago, Reuters survey of West African flows showed.
- Japan's top oil refiner, JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp, is
not facing a problem paying Iran for crude imports, the company
said on Thursday, after a major Japanese bank froze transactions
with Iranian banks on the order of a U.S. court.
- Oil prices remain a threat to the fragile global economic
recovery despite a recent fall, the International Energy
Agency's chief economist said on Wednesday, adding the IEA
remained ready to release emergency oil stocks if needed.
CRUDE Price Prev Change
JULY Brent 109.49 110.25 -0.76
JULY Brent/Dubai EFS DUB-EFS-1M 3.65 3.78 -0.13
PRODUCT CRACKS Price Prev Change
JUNE fuel oil crack -3.61 -4.03 0.42
JUNE gasoil crack 15.76 15.93 -0.17
JULY naphtha crack -10.55 -10.50 -0.05
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