Med crude-Urals seen weaker as demand for May resources faints  

MOSCOW: Urals differentials weakened slightly on Tuesday as the demand for May-loading cargoes reduced after refiners mostly filled their requirements for the current month and refining margins were not so good.

Urals refining margins on 'complex' refineries in the Mediterranean were weaker on Tuesday - at $5.06 a barrel compared with $5.67 for the last five days on average, Reuters data showed.

Diesel refining margins in northwest Europe dropped on Friday to their lowest since late November 2016 on expectations of higher supplies in the coming weeks as refineries are restarted after maintenance work.

In the Platts window Shell bought 100,000 tonnes of Urals loading from Baltic ports on May 12-16 from Trafigura at dated Brent minus $1.75 a barrel to BFOE, 10 cents weaker than the market estimations last week, traders said.

Italy's Eni tried to sell 100,000 tonnes of Urals loading from Baltic ports on may 20-24 at dated Brent minus $1.55 a barrel to BFOE, but failed to find a buyer.

Market sources said that on Tuesday Surgutneftegaz awarded a tender to sell 100,000 tonnes of Urals loading on May 22-23 from Ust-Luga at dated Brent minus $1.65 a barrel to BFOE. The cargo was sold at a higher price due to later loading dates, traders thought.

Mediterranean Urals differentials for 80,000 tonnes of Urals weakened as the demand for May-loading volumes was limited.

In the Platts window Shell and Litasco tried to place their cargoes loading on May 13-17 and May 20-24 respectively at a discount of $1.30 a barrel to BFOE but failed to find a buyer, though offers were about 20 cents weaker than the previous market estimates.

Meanwhile bigger 140,000-tonne vessels loading at  Novorossiisk were estimated at a 20 cents discount to smaller ones.

Premiums for light Caspian Azeri Light were also weaker on Tuesday as there were a number of unsold cargoes in May, traders said.

In the Platts window Shell bought 85,000 tonnes of Azeri Light from Socar at a premium of $1.85 a barrel to dated Brent, about 15 cents lower than recent traded levels.