MOSCOW: Urals differentials were up in northwest Europe due to demand for Urals cargoes loading from Baltic ports in the second half of June.
In the Platts window Vitol sold to Shell a cargo loading on June 23-27 at a discount of $2.65 a barrel to BFOE, traders said.
The deal was done about 10 cents higher than recent estimations.
At the same time Surgutneftegaz awarded a tender to sell 200,000 tonnes of Urals loading from Primorsk on June 20-21 and from Ust-Luga on June 19-20 to Total at discounts of around $2.50 a barrel to BFOE.
Traders said that Surgutneftegaz normally sells Urals in spot tenders a bit higher than the average market level and assessed the grade at minus $2.50-2.70 a barrel to BFOE.
In the Mediterranean, Urals also was supported by healthy demand, but sellers estimated their crude at even higher levels.
In the Platts window Litasco tried to sell 80,000 tonnes of Urals loading from Novorossiisk on June 23-27 down to a discount of $1.20 a barrel to BFOE.
It was about 30 cents higher than the level of Litasco's bid on Wednesday for a cargo of the same size loading on June 14-18.
Discounts for CPC Blend narrowed as June cargoes loading in the second half of the month attracted more buyers, but the grade is expected to trade at a discount to BFOE for a while as naphtha margins and strikes at French refineries weigh.
Kazakhstan's Kazmunaigas awarded a tender on Wednesday to sell 240,000 tonnes of CPC Blend at an equivalent of discounts around $0.30-0.20 to BFOE, traders said.
Shell and Petrodiamond were named as the winners.
In the Platts window Gunvor tried to buy 85,000 tonnes of CPC Blend loading on June 23-27 at a discount of $0.50 a barrel to BFOE, but failed to find a seller.
The bid was about 20 cents higher than Wednesday's bid by Petroineos.
Premiums for Azeri light were under pressure due to strikes in France and lower demand for the grade.
Though Socar continues to send lots of cargoes out of the region, European demand for the grade was quite slack.
In the Platts window Socar tried to sell 85,000 tonnes of Azeri light loading on June 16-20 at a premium of $1.80 a barrel to BFOE, but found no buyer.
The offer was about 20 cents lower than the recent offer levels.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.