MOSCOW: Urals crude differentials in northwest Europe rose to the highest level since August 2013 in response to concerns over supplies of the grade for loading in January because of Russian plans to boost overland oil exports to China in 2018.
Russia will supply 28.3 million tonnes of oil to China via Skovorodino-Mohe pipeline in 2018 as part of an intergovernmental agreement, up from 16.5 million tonnes seen for 2017.
The provisional Urals crude loading plan for the first days of January may emerge on Friday, trade sources said
Russia's Tatneft has added an extra cargo of Urals crude oil for loading from the Baltic Sea port of Primorsk on Dec. 25-26, traders said, but this did not put a cap on Urals prices in the region.
In the Platts window, Vitol bid for a 100,000-tonne cargo of Urals for loading from the Baltic on Nov. 23-27 up to minus $0.15 to dated Brent, but found no seller, traders said.
BP bid for a similar cargo for Jan. 2-6 loading up to dated Brent minus $0.35 a barrel.
The grade was assessed at minus $0.50-$0.40 a barrel on Monday.
There were no bids and offers for Urals in the Mediterranean on Tuesday.
Oil loadings from Novorossisk and Primorsk were suspended on Tuesday due to a storm, Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft said.
In lighter grades, Eni bid for 650,000 barrels of Azeri BTC for Dec. 28 - Jan. 1 loading up to dated Brent plus $2.65 a barrel. That was up by some 10 cents from Monday assessments for the grade.
CPC Blend differentials edged lower with Glencore offering 135,000 tonnes of the grade on Dec. 28 - Jan. 1 at minus $0.10 a barrel, but found no seller.
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