Reports from international oil market said that Sweet crude sold at a steady pace for August loading in the West African market, while deals in Angola crude slowed, traders said on Tuesday. “Angola would not move today. The pace of the demand is about the same as July. But we have more cargoes this month. So why would buyers rush to buy? They wait,” a trader said.
Deals in Nigerian crude were also said to be thin as two Indian import tenders were set to be awarded later this week. A deal for private equity firm Carlyle Group to save and expand Sunoco’s 330,000 barrel-per-day Philadelphia refinery in the United States failed to provide support to the Nigerian market. Sunoco had been a key buyer of light crude, including Nigerian, but Carlyle and Sunoco now plan for the refinery to capitalise on cheap U.S. domestic shale oil.
Qua Iboe crude for August loading was little changed at two-year lows, with differentials assessed at dated Brent plus $1 a barrel and sellers pegged around dated plus $1.40 a barrel.. Some traders said August-loading Qua Iboe was offered at dated plus $1.80/$1.90, but the level was higher than where buyers were based. More than 15 million barrels of July-loading Nigerian crude have remained unsold. Most of the small cargoes have not found homes, traders said. For August loading, only about 15 cargoes out of about 75, including condensate, have been sold on spot and into Asian
Tenders so far. “The August-loading programme came out very late, and now we have received the term allocation, which listed many companies we have not heard of,” another trader said. “These companies do not have track record or experience. We
Tenders from India’s Bharara Petroleum Corp Ltd and Bangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd to import late-August-loading sweet crude will be awarded later this week.
Nigeria light sweet crude in low demand
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