Med Crude-Urals drifts sideways in muted trade, CFDs flattish

MOSCOW: Urals crude differentials in northwest Europe and Mediterranean were stable on Tuesday in quiet trade, supported by limited availability of the grade for loading in June and attractive refinery margins.

Novorossiisk will load 11 Aframaxes of Urals in June, down from 15 cargoes in May, according to the final loading schedule.

Tatneft may load one Aframax of Urals in Novorossisk in the second half of June on top of the final lifting plan, but it is not enough to put any pressure on Urals differentials in the region, traders say.

Urals differentials in Mediterranean  were assessed just 5 cents below the highest level since September 2015.

In the northwest Europe, Shell offered 100,000 tonnes of Urals for June 16-20 loading at minus $1.25 a barrel before withdrawing.

In the Mediterranean, Vitol offered 80,000 tonnes of Urals for June 24-28 at dated Brent minus $0.70 a barrel, up 5 cents from its offer on Monday.

Traders in Urals paper contracts said Urals CFDs for June in the Mediterranean stood at around Brent minus $0.85, while July contracts were assessed at minus $0.90 a barrel

Urals CFDs in the north for June and July were seen at around minus $1.30 a barrel to BFOE.

CPC Blend CFDs for June and July stood at dated Brent minus $1.25 and $1.10 a barrel respectively.

There were no bids and offers for CPC Blend, Azeri BTC and Siberian Light in the Platts window on Tuesday.