SINGAPORE: Offers for January-loading regional grades have emerged following the release of various Australian crude loading programmes on Tuesday.
January supplies of Australian heavy sweet crude will rise by around 1.15 million barrels to 2.6 million barrels, compared with December availabilities of just 1.45 million barrels.
Two 550,000-barrel cargoes of heavy sweet Vincent crude will load in January, one more than in December. The two cargoes will load at the start and end of the month. It is unclear which cargoes will be marketed by stakeholders Mitsui and Woodside.
Pyrenees supplies will also rise to two 550,000-barrel cargoes in the January loading programme compared with just one cargo in December, traders said. Quadrant Energy will market the Jan. 9-13 Pyrenees cargo, while BHP Billiton will have a cargo for end-January to early-February loading.
January supplies of Van Gogh crude are also slightly higher than in December. Inpex will market the Jan. 14-18 400,000-barrel cargo, which is 50,000 barrels more than the December-loading cargo sold by Quadrant Energy last month.
Fuel oil refining margins, which have narrowed to a discount around $1.30 per barrel, and are at their highest levels since June 2012, could underpin refinery demand for heavy sweet crude grades.
But the additional availabilities in January could weigh on market sentiment, traders said, adding that they currently held "mixed" views of heavy sweet crude values as refinery margins remain susceptible to volatile crude prices.
In the ultra-light sweet crude market, Woodside will market a 650,000-barrel cargo of Australian Cossack crude that is scheduled for Jan. 25-29 loading. January supplies of the grade are steady from December.
The January loading programme for Papua New Guinea Kutubu Light crude is due for release at the end of this week, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.
Brent's premium to Dubai swaps, or Brent-Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS), was at $2.15 per barrel for January, unchanged from Monday.
REFINERY
Oman Oil Company chief executive Issam Al Zadjali said on Tuesday it would sign a memorandum of understanding with Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) for a partnership at Oman's Duqm refinery.
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