West Africa Crude Stronger with Med

LONDON: West African crude oil differentials strengthened across the board on Thursday as higher demand for light, sweet grades pushed up offers for many Gulf and Mediterranean grades and as supplies stayed relatively tight.

Asian end-users have retendered to buy sweet crudes in the last few days and three separate awards are expected this week, some of them probably involving West African grades.

US refiners have also been active buyers in the market, placing light, sweet grades into their own systems.

Most Nigerian and Angolan cargoes are now sold for September loading and October supply programmes will not be known until next week.

"There's not much West Africa (crude) around now," said a trader with a large US oil company.

"The Med market is very tight and demand for sweets, especially light sweets, is very strong everywhere."

Copyright Reuters, 2011