SINGAPORE: Trade for December-loading regional grades is set to pick up following the release of Kutubu Light's December loading programme and fresh offers for Vietnamese crude on Monday.
Vietnamese state-marketer PV Oil is offering three 300,000-barrel Chim Sao crude cargoes for December loading, one cargo more than last month when it sold two November-loading cargoes at premiums of $2.50 and low-$3.00 a barrel to dated Brent.
PV Oil has only offered spot December-loading Ruby and Chim Sao crude so far, but also has two January-June term tenders for Sutu Den and Te Giac Trang crude outstanding. The term tenders are only expected to be awarded at the end of the month.
The Vietnamese oil firm made a counter offer of $2.50 a barrel above dated Brent after it closed the Sutu Den tender's first round on Oct. 3, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said. Bids for the January-June Sutu Den supplies were likely to be between $1.00-1.50 a barrel to dated Brent, traders said.
In comparison, July-December Sutu Den term supplies were awarded to Unipec and a domestic refinery at around $1.60 per barrel above dated Brent in April. First round bids in the previous tender were about $1.30 per barrel to dated Brent, with PV Oil countering at $2.00 a barrel.
Two 650,000-barrel cargoes of Papua New Guinea Kutubu Light crude will load in December, according to two traders who received the grade's December loading programme. The cargoes, which are scheduled to load Dec. 16-20 and Dec. 29-Jan. 2, will be marketed by Oil Search.
While the December loading programme is one cargo fewer than in November, spot availabilities are deemed steady from last month, when Oil Search sold two cargoes and ExxonMobil likely kept the third.
The oil major does not usually offer its Kutubu Light allocations as it opts to keep the supplies for its refining system. November-loading Kutubu Light cargoes traded at premiums around $1.10 and $1.40 per barrel to dated Brent.
Brent's premium to Dubai swaps, or Brent-Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS), was at $2.80 per barrel, down 1 cent for December.
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