MOSCOW: Urals crude oil price differentials in the Baltic were down on Wednesday in quiet trade ahead of spot tenders to sell September barrels from Baltic and Black Sea ports, while traders focused on prospects for hefty supplies of the grade next month.
The Ust-Luga technical provisional loading plan for September showed port exports rising by 0.3 million tonnes from August to reach 2.5 million tonnes, industry sources said. To see Urals crude seaborne cargoes primary allocations in September click on: Russia's oil export duty is expected to fall 11.2 percent month-on-month to $80 per tonne in September, also stimulating higher oil exports.
Russia's offline primary oil refining capacity is seen at 2.41 million tonnes in September, up from a revised 1.96 million tonnes in August, according to Energy Ministry data. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday unexpectedly postponed indefinitely plans to privatise Bashneft , which had created tensions over whether state-run Rosneft should be allowed to buy a stake in its rival.
A sale of part of Russia's holding in oil producer Rosneft is a priority and will come before any privatisation of mid-sized rival Bashneft, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said on Wednesday.
In the Platts window, Vitol was showing a 100,000-tonne Urals cargo for loading in the Baltic on Aug. 31 - Sept. 4 at dated Brent minus $2.25 a barrel, without finding a buyer. That was down by 10 cents a barrel from Vitol's offer on Tuesday.
There was no activity in Urals in the Mediterranean, or in Azeri light and Siberian light in the Platts window, traders said. In CPC Blend, Shell was offering in the Platts window 80,000 tonnes of the grade for Aug. 28 - Sept. 1 at a discount of $0.15 to dated Brent, but found no buyer.
In Azeri light, buyers were looking for September barrels outside the Platts window at premiums of around $1.40 a barrel to dated Brent, while sellers were not willing to do deals at these levels, one trader said.
TENDERS Surgutneftegaz issued a tender on Wednesday to sell 500,000 tonnes of Urals loading on Sept. 2-3, 3-4 and 5-6 from Primorsk and on Sept. 2-3 and 6-7 from Ust-Luga, traders said.
The tender closes on August 18. Rosneft closed the second round of its jumbo tender to sell Urals loading from Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Novorossiisk in Oct. 2016 - March 2017.
The company may also call a third round of the tender on Aug. 23. In this case, tender participants can send improved bids by 15:00 Moscow time on Aug. 25.
According to industry sources, the bidders offered lower premiums to Rosneft's pricing formula compared to the previous semi-annual tender, but this could not be directly confirmed.
On Thursday, Rosneft closes a tender to sell two 140-tonne Urals cargoes for loading from Novorossiisk in September.
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