Med Crude-Urals differentials down in NWE, CPC Blend strengthens

MOSCOW: Urals differentials to dated Brent in the Baltic fell again on Wednesday as record supplies of crude from the ports of Promorsk and Ust-Luga in October weighed on the market, Reuters sources said.

Freight rates for 100,000-tonne dirty tankers in northwest Europe rose to 115 Worldscale points (WS) on Wednesday from WS67.5-WS75 earlier this week due to high demand for vessels on the back of a hefty Urals lifting schedule.

To see Russia's Urals crude final loading plan for October click on Kashagan shareholders, who cannot yet send their oil to the CPC pipeline, will use Transneft pipelines to export crude and will lift a 100,000-tonne cargo of Urals from the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga in October, traders said.

In the Platts window, Trafigura sold to Total 100,000 tonnes of Urals crude for loading from Primorsk or Ust-Luga on Oct. 8-12 at dated Brent minus $3.20 a barrel, down 5 cents from a deal on Tuesday, traders said. Vitol was showing a cargo of the same size for loading in the Baltic on Oct. 9-13 down to minus $3.00 a barrel but withdrew the offer. Some traders attributed weakness in Urals differentials to prompt loading dates, while a Surgut tender on Wednesday showed steady to lower numbers compared with the previous tender held by the Russian producer on Sept. 26.

In the Mediterranean, Unipec was offering 80,000 tonnes of Urals crude for loading ex-Novorossiisk on Oct. 8-12 down to a discount of $1.80 a barrel to dated Brent but found no buyer. In CPC Blend, OMV was looking for 85,000 tonnes of the grade on Oct. 13-17 up to minus $1.15 a barrel to dated Brent, while Vitol offered a parcel of the same size for Oct. 15-19 at a discount of $0.95 a barrel before withdrawing. On Tuesday, CPC Blend differentials to dated Brent were at a discount of $1.40-$1.50 a barrel.

OMV was also bidding for 80,000 tonnes of Siberian light on Oct. 19-23 up to minus $1.50 a barrel but no sellers stepped forward. There was no activity in Azeri light in the Platts window on Wednesday, Reuters sources said.