LONDON: Urals crude differentials strengthened on Friday despite weak refining margins as traders cited uncertainty over a potentially short loading programme in December.
Oil firm Surgut sold early December Urals cargoes from the Baltic ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk to Shell, Glencore and Neste at a tender at dated Brent minus 70-85 cents, some 55-70 cents stronger than previous price estimates.
There were no deals, bids or offers in the Platts window for Urals, CPC or Azeri, traders said.
"It is a difficult market as the full December programme is still not out yet, the margins are negative and Urals is very strong," said a trader with a major.
Azeri Light pumping stopped on Nov. 21 due to repairs in a fire fighting system and was expected to resume in about 40-48 hours, a shipping source said.
Sinopec Corp has halted crude and oil product buying following a deadly explosion at a pipeline in eastern China, European traders said on Friday.
At least 35 people were killed in the blast in Qingdao, one of China's largest crude oil import terminals that supplies at least two major Sinopec refineries as well as many small, independent refineries.
Russia will flood Europe with diesel and starve it of heavy fuel oil when the country completes a $55 billion refining overhaul, further threatening the continent's downstream sector as it struggles to survive.
Iraqi Kurdistan's oil exports may start flowing through its own pipeline via Turkey within weeks, and without necessarily agreeing payment protocol with the Baghdad central government, the region's natural resources minister Ashti Hawrami said.
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