SINGAPORE: Chinese demand boosted spot premiums for Russia's ESPO grade in the Asia-Pacific crude market on Wednesday, while values for sweet grades in the region were steady to slightly weaker.
ChemChina picked up two March-loading cargoes of ESPO crude from Rosneft in a tender at $5.20-$5.30 a barrel above Dubai quotes, according to traders, the highest premium since May 2014.
The two cargoes are due to load on March 5-10 and March 13-18.
Loading of ESPO crude from the Russian port of Kozmino was suspended on Wednesday due to a storm, the country's oil pipeline operator Transneft said. The storm was expected to last for a day.
Malaysia's Petronas may have sold a cargo of March-loading Labuan crude, according to traders, but details remained vague. The state-owned company had initially offered the cargo at around $4 a barrel above dated Brent, one trader said.
The price level was likely lower than the previous month, after Petronas last sold a February cargo at a premium of more than $4 a barrel.
Brent's premium to Dubai swaps, or Brent-Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS), was steady at around $3.21 a barrel.
Vietnam's crude oil exports this month fell 21.4 percent from a year ago to an estimated 640,000 tonnes, or 151,000 barrels per day (bpd), the government said on Wednesday.
The country would produce an estimated 1.34 million tonnes of crude oil (317,000 barrels per day) in January, down 3.6 percent from a year ago.
Japan's commercial crude oil stocks fell 4.02 million barrels to 92.66 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 23, according to the Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ).
* MARKET NEWS
Asia's fuel oil market faces more trouble in 2016 because of plunging demand from independent Chinese refiners and as Asia's slowing economies dent consumption in power plants and seaborne trading.
After a 2015 that famed oil bull Andrew Hall said "wasn't much fun" because of plunging crude prices, the chief of Astenbeck Commodities says the market is ripe for a jump as producers operate near maximum capacity while supply risks rise.
The British North Sea port of Hound Point will not load any Forties crude oil on any supertankers in early March because of maintenance work on Jetty 1, operator BP said on Tuesday.
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