Markets

Asia-Pacific Crude: Condensate mixed; NWS weakens

Published January 5, 2015 Updated January 5, 2015 09:31am

SINGAPORE: Spot differentials for Asia-Pacific condensate grades were mixed, while several crude cargoes remained unsold, traders said on Monday.

Australia's Northwest Shelf (NWS) condensate weakened, partly due to low naphtha cracks. Shell sold a cargo of NWS loading on Feb. 14-18 at a discount of slightly less than $4 a barrel against dated Brent, traders said.

The buyer was not known, but traders said it may have been sold to a South Korean company. The grade was last month sold at a discount of $3.40-$3.70 a barrel, according to Reuters data.

Meanwhile, differentials for Muda condensate - a heavier grade than NWS - strengthened, after Thailand's PTT sold 300,000 barrels of the grade loading on Feb. 11-20 to ExxonMobil in a tender at a premium of $1 a barrel or slightly higher against dated Brent, traders said.

Several cargoes of Malaysian grades loading in February were available. Murphy Oil offered Kikeh at around $5.50 a barrel above dated Brent, but found no buyers at that level, a trader said.

Labuan was still unsold after Petronas failed to award a tender for the grade, likely due to low offers, according to traders.

Copyright Reuters, 2014