SINGAPORE: The Asia-Pacific crude market remained under pressure on Monday amid poor demand, while some traders awaited the results of a Malaysian tender to gauge supply.
The overall market was over-supplied amid high inflows from other regions and low refining margins.
"Crude prices have come down, and that's making refining margins look a little bit better. But it doesn't mean the market is improving," one Singapore-based trader said. "The market is still over-supplied."
The result of a tender by Malaysia's Petronas to sell 300,000 barrels of Labuan crude for loading Dec. 11-16 had not yet emerged. The tender closed on Oct. 16.
Brent crude prices steadied around $86 a barrel on Monday.
Thailand's PTT offered 300,000 barrels of Muda condensate loading Dec. 7-16 in a tender that closes on Tuesday.
Shell may bring a December-loading cargo of Northwest Shelf condensate (NWS) to its own refining system as poor demand and weak naphtha prices have depressed values for the grade, traders said.
"Some majors prefer taking cargoes back to own refining system now," another trader said.
"Buying interest is low, but it's a good chance for majors to balance their portfolios," he said.
BHP Billiton sold a Dec. 14-18 cargo to SK Energy, traders said, but the price could not be confirmed.
One trader said values for NWS had fallen from last month to no higher than $2.50 a barrel below Dated Brent, due to weak naphtha margins and higher condensate supply from Qatar.
Brent-Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS), or Brent's premium to Dubai swaps, narrowed 5 cents to $1.80 a barrel.
Top Chinese refiner Sinopec Corp is expected to process 4.3 percent more crude oil in 2015 than this year's level of about 4.9 million barrels per day (bpd), industry consultancy ICIS C1 Energy said on Monday.
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