SINGAPORE: Russian ESPO held steady in the Asia-Pacific crude market on Wednesday after Petro-Diamond bought two cargoes in Surgutneftegas' tender.
The Russian producer sold cargoes loading on June 30-July 5 and July 3-8 at premiums of $2.80 and just above $2.90 a barrel to Dubai quotes, respectively, traders said.
The last tender for June-loading ESPO sold by Tenergy went at $2.60-$3.30 a barrel.
The purchase signalled a revival in Japan's interest in the grade as Chinese teapots' demand for ESPO waned with the inability to cope with the crude's higher naphtha output.
Russian crude demand from South Korea may also strengthen this month as they shun high-price Middle East grades, traders said.
"Korea's demand for Middle East crude has been very slow," a trader said. "Maybe they'll try to buy more ESPO or Sokol."
Exxon Mobil offered Russian Sokol crude on Wednesday which could fetch premiums of close to $5 a barrel to Dubai quotes, another trader said. The US oil major has three cargoes loading on July 7, 19 and 30.
Last month, Exxon sold two June-loading cargoes at premiums of $3.80 and $4.30 a barrel.
Brent's premium to Dubai swaps, or Brent-Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS), edged down 5 cents to $3.61 a barrel for July.
TENDERS
PV Oil offered 400,000 barrels of Dai Hung loading on July 7-13 in a tender to close on May 20 with bids valid until May 25.
It will close on May 24 a separate tender to sell 300,000 barrels of Bunga Orkid for loading on July 15-21.
ARBITRAGE
A cargo loaded with US Alaskan North Slope crude (ANS) is headed to Sendai, Japan on the Alaskan Legend, a ship owned by BP, marking the first export of the crude in over a year, according to Reuters data and a shipping broker.
MARKET NEWS
Russia's Rosneft and Indonesia's Pertamina will sign a framework deal this week on an oil refinery in Indonesia, a Kremlin aide said on Tuesday, in what could be the first Russian foray into a region dominated by OPEC producers from the Gulf.
Swiss trading house Trafigura is set to become the biggest buyer of Russian crude, after adding barrels from Russia's third largest oil company Surgutneftegaz to its already massive contracts with Kremlin major Rosneft.
Panjin Beifang Asphalt Fuel Co., an independent refinery based in northeast China, expects to triple its profits this year due to record operating rates after being granted the right to import crude oil last year, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday.
Rival factions have agreed in principle to have one oil organisation for strife-torn Libya, the foreign minister in the new UN-backed, national unity government said on Tuesday.
A massive wildfire raged near Fort McMurray, Alberta on Tuesday and threatened major oil sands production facilities, forcing the evacuation of thousands of workers and prolonging a shutdown that cut Canadian oil output by 1 million barrels a day.
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