Med Crude-Urals eases on lower demand for April volumes

MOSCOW: Urals differentials eased slightly in northwest Europe and the Mediterranean as a few April-loading cargoes remained unsold while buyers were looking at May supply.

Sellers were keen to get rid of April resources ahead of the Easter holidays and offered competitive prices.

In the Platts window Trafigura sold 100,000 tonnes of Urals loading from Baltic ports on April 25-29 to Exxonmobil at dated Brent minus $2.35 a barrel - 20 cents weaker than the recent market level.

At the same time Glencore sold a similar cargo loading from Baltic ports on April 25-29 to Shell at dated Brent minus $2.25 a barrel - 10 cents weaker than recent market estimations, traders said.

Litasco also offered 100,000 tonnes of Urals loading from Primorsk or Ust-Luga on April 24-28 at a discount of $2.25 a barrel to BFOE, but failed to find a buyer.

In the Mediterranean Tenergy sold to Litasco 80,000 tonnes of Urals loading on April 25-29 from Novorossiisk at a discount of $0.80 a barrel to BFOE, which was about 20 cents weaker than Tenergy's offer on Tuesday.

Sweet Azeri Light, CPC Blend and Saharan Blend remained under pressure in the Mediterranean due to an oversupply and lower demand from Asia, despite unstable exports from Libya and fine refining margins, traders said.

CPC Blend preliminary loading plan was out on Wednesday and showed May exports planned at 4.79 million tonnes.

On a daily basis May loadings will be 1 percent lower compared to April, but traders said they thought the plan will be revised to a bigger volume later as it was earlier this year.