SINGAPORE: Condensate came under pressure in the Asia-Pacific crude market on Tuesday as an additional North West Shelf (NWS) cargo was added to the January programme.
BHP has a cargo loading on Jan. 28-Feb. 1, traders said, in
addition to four cargoes to be marketed by Woodside, BP, Petro-Diamond and Chevron.
A rebound in naphtha cracks would usually support condensate values, but there is "still too much oil," said a trader. A second trader said NWSC condensate differentials were likely to hold steady from the previous month.
Russian ESPO also weakened. Surgutneftegas sold an ESPO cargo for Jan. 5-10 loading via a tender at $1.60-$1.65 a barrel above Dubai quotes to an unknown buyer, traders said. The differential was lower than the $1.85-$1.90 premium fetched in Surgut's previous tender.
Separately, Sakhalin Energy offered 730,000 barrels of Vityaz for loading on Jan. 29-Feb. 5 in a tender to close on Nov. 20. Bids will remain valid until a day later. The Russian producer could sell another three cargoes for loading in February after the tender, traders said.
Brent-Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS), or Brent's premium to Dubai swaps, inched up 7 cents to $1.75 a barrel for January.
MARKET NEWS
Indonesia's government is expected to save up to 140 trillion rupiah ($11.54 billion) next year after the president slashed fuel subsidies to free up funds for infrastructure and other projects, Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said on Tuesday.
Halliburton Co said on Monday it will buy Baker Hughes Inc for about $35 billion in cash and stock, creating an oilfield services behemoth to take on market leader Schlumberger NV as customers curb spending on falling oil prices.
Iraqi security forces entered the country's largest refinery for the first time on Tuesday after months of battling Islamic State militants who had surrounded it, a police colonel and state television said.
The UAE oil minister said on Tuesday the Gulf Arab state was committed to supplying the market with its crude needs and that the OPEC member did not have a target for oil prices.
The Singapore arm of bankrupt Danish shipping fuel trader OW Bunker will meet with its liquidator KPMG in early December to discuss the firm's outstanding debt, which totals almost $1.5 billion globally.
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