SINGAPORE: Cash trade in the Middle East crude market accelerated on Friday as sellers sold more cargoes to Chinaoil and Mercuria before the month ends.
Six cargoes were sold during the Platts Market on Close (MoC) process, bringing the total for the month to a record 75 cargoes.
Chinaoil took five Oman cargoes - three from Unipec and one each from Shell and Vitol, traders said. Shell also sold an Oman cargo to Mercuria, they said.
Separately, the spot premium for Russian ESPO crude has hit a fresh 5-year low after Russia increased exports to Asia in October, traders said.
Surgutneftegaz, has sold three cargoes at premiums between 50 and 80 cents a barrel to Dubai quotes via a tender, they said. The premium is the lowest since 2010, according to Reuters data.
Unipec, Shell and Mitsui bought a cargo each, traders said. The cargoes are to load on Oct. 14-18, 17-21 and 21-25.
Surgutneftegaz closed another tender on Thursday to sell two cargoes loading on Oct. 26-29, Oct. 29-Nov. 1.
Trafigura sold another two cargoes after earlier selling an Oct. 10-13 cargo to Unipec at a premium of 70 cents a barrel.
It sold an Oct. 22-25 cargo to Chevron at a premium of $1 a barrel and a cargo for Oct. 13-16 to an end user at premiums between 50 and 60 cents a barrel, traders said.
Rosneft, which issued a tender to sell two cargoes loading on Oct. 1-4 and 12-15, has decided to supply these cargoes to ChemChina under a term contract, they said.
Glencore has provisionally booked three supertankers to load 6 million barrels of North Sea Forties crude for South Korea in September, according to shipping data and traders.
The volume is larger than usual as low freight rates and wide spot discounts for Forties due to ample supply have encouraged shipments of the crude to Asia, they said.
There could be a fourth supertanker of Forties heading to Asia in September, traders said. Swiss trader Trafigura may have sold 2 million barrels to China, they said.
*DME OMAN
DME Oman for October settled at $46.57, up $2.42 from a day earlier. This puts DME Oman at $0.73 a barrel above Dubai swaps, against a premium of $0.69 in the previous session.
*MARKET NEWS
Shell's Nigerian unit, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), declared force majeure on Bonny Light crude oil exports on Thursday after shutting down two pipelines due to a leak and theft.
China's North Industries Group Corp, a state-run defense conglomerate that also invests in oil and gas, may postpone a multi-billion dollar plan to build a refinery because of a capacity overhang, industry sources said.
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