Markets

Asia-Pacific Crude-July-loading supplies fall slightly

Published May 17, 2016 Updated May 17, 2016 01:41pm

SINGAPORE: Heavy sweet crude may receive some support from a slight drop in Australian exports in July, traders said on Tuesday.

There is only one Pyrenees cargo held by Inpex, which is to load in July, down from two the previous month, they said.

There is also one cargo each of Stag, Vincent and Van Gogh in July.

PV Oil also cut Chim Sao exports, offering just one cargo to load on July 9-13, down from three in the previous month, traders said. The Chim Sao tender will close on May 18 with bids valid until May 23.

Still, offers of crude from storage due to a narrower contango structure may continue to add to prompt supplies, capping any gains from a smaller July programme.

On trading windows, Glencore kept its bids for Minas steady on Tuesday, maintaining ICP at about $3 a barrel above dated Brent, a trader said.

Brent's premium to Dubai swaps, or Brent-Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS) narrowed 14 cents to $3.66 a barrel for July.

TENDERS

ExxonMobil has sold a partial cargo of Banyu Urip for loading in July in a tender on Monday at a premium of more than $1 a barrel to dated Brent, traders said.

Surgutneftegaz offered two 100,000-tonne cargoes of ESPO crude for loading on June 30-July 5 and on July 3-8, traders said. The tender closes on May 17 at 1400 Moscow time.

REFINERY

Japanese refiner Idemitsu Kosan Co 5019.T said a fire had occurred at a 42,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) resid hydro desulphurisation (RH) unit at its Hokkaido refinery in northern Japan around 0550 a.m. on Tuesday (2050 GMT on Monday).

China's state planner granted Shandong province-based independent refinery Hengyuan Petrochemical Company Ltd a crude oil import quota of 3.5 million tonnes per year, it said on Monday.

MARKET NEWS

Nigeria's oil production has fallen by almost 40 percent to 1.4 million barrels a day due to militant attacks on facilities in the Delta region, its oil minister said on Monday.

Angola is planning to export 56 cargoes of crude oil in July, up from 53 scheduled in June, trade sources said on Monday.

US shale oil output is expected to fall in June for the eighth consecutive month, according to a US government forecast on Monday, as the squeeze from a two-year rout in crude prices worsens.

Libya will resume oil shipments from the port of Marsa El Hariga after an agreement was reached at talks in Vienna between rival oil officials representing the east and west of the country, Libyan oil sources told Reuters.

Copyright Reuters, 2016