SINGAPORE: Trade for March-loading Asia-Pacific crude is off to a slow start as traders await greater clarity on regional loading programmes and as Asian refiners have this week shifted focus to managing supply cuts from OPEC producers.
Supplies of Australian heavy sweet crude are expected to rise in March after two cargoes of Pyrenees crude were scheduled for loading in the month. Just one cargo of the grade was offered for February loading.
Quadrant Energy will market the 550,000-barrel Pyrenees cargo for Mar. 2-6 loading, while BHP Billiton will market the Mar. 19-23 cargo.
Inpex is also likely to have a 350,000-barrel cargo of Van Gogh crude for end-March loading on offer. No Van Gogh crude was available for February loading.
Supplies of Vincent and Enfield crude are also likely to be greater in March as February-loading supplies had been deferred. Exact details on the cargoes remain unclear but both grades are expected to load in early March and be around 550,000 barrels large, traders said.
March loading programmes for Malaysian crude are due for release later this week, sources with knowledge of the matter said.
Supplies of Malaysian Kimanis crude could dip in March as Malaysia attempts to comply with its pledged 20,000 barrel-per-day cut in output, a crude procurement manager from a Southeast Asian refinery said.
Brent's premium to Dubai swaps, or Brent-Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS), was at $1.67 a barrel, down 15 cents for March.
The premium, which is at its lowest since October 2015, according to trade sources and Thomson Reuters Eikon data, is expected to encourage more crude flows from the Atlantic basin to Asia.
European and Chinese traders are already shipping a record 22 million barrels of crude from the North Sea and Azerbaijan to Asia this month, seeking to plug any supply gap left by OPEC production cuts.
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