LONDON: West African crude oil was trading slowly, and differentials held at notably low levels due to a glut of cargoes that appeared set to worsen in the Atlantic Basin.
Libya's oil production had reached 551,000 barrels per day (bpd), adding attractive light crude grades to an already flooded market.
China, a key buyer of Angolan oil, imported record volumes of crude last month, eclipsing the United States as the world's top buyer of foreign oil as Beijing's state reserves shipped in cheap crude to fill new storage tanks.
December loading plans were due within the week and some of the October and November oil was expected to end up in floating storage, traders said, due in part to a price contango on the market but also as a result of the failure to place cargoes with buyers.
NIGERIA
The Everbright tanker, the first planned export of Forcados in nine months, had left the terminal, but it was not immediately clear if it had loaded the oil according to Reuters ship tracking data.
Virtually every grade was still available, though traders said Usan had moved more quickly than others.
Around 30 Nigerian cargoes were still on offer for October and November loading.
Most of the Qua Iboe cargoes for the first half of November had traded. Offer levels were still close to dated Brent plus 95 cents.
Some said trading was slow in advance of November official selling prices, which are expected by the end of next week.
Traders complained that the October OSPs were unfairly high, and some are banking on an adjustement lower in November.
Nigerian state oil company NNPC on Thursday issued a tender to sell its 2017 crude oil cargoes.
ANGOLA
Around a dozen November loading cargoes left for sale, with Nemba in particular slow to move.
The strong Chinese demand has helped clear cargoes more quickly than other West African grades, but differentials had also slipped due to an excess of physical crude.
The December loading plans are expected as early as Monday next week.
US buyers have also shown interest in some Angolan grades, with PES said to have booked cargoes in recent weeks.
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