- Nigerian Crude Oil Sells Slowly Amid Oversupply
The number of unsold Nigerian crude oil cargoes has reduced as buying interest picked up on Wednesday.
Reuters quoted traders as saying that several more Nigerian cargoes had cleared so that fewer than half a dozen were available from the August programme and around 12-15 from the September programme.
This is down from close to 30 cargoes at the start of the week.
Differentials for Nigerian crude edged up on Wednesday after a flurry of unsold cargoes traded on the spot market, although traders said the market was still oversupplied and the recent show of strength might not last.
Both Forcados and Qua Iboe had been bid up, traders said. Qua was last offered at more than $1.50 per barrel above dated Brent, from $1.00 the previous day.
A cargo of Forcados was heard to have been offered up around $1.35 per barrel above the dated price, from $1.30 the previous day.
“Let’s see how long sellers can stick with these numbers,” one trader was quoted as saying.
Angola is set to export 49 cargoes in October after four cargoes of Gindungo, a new grade, were added to the preliminary programme; September had 47 cargoes.
Petroperu is seeking up to 760,000 barrels of West African, Latin American or the United States crude, for delivery between October 9 and 26. The tender closed on Tuesday but the results had yet to emerge.
Thailand’s PTT is looking to purchase between 300,000 and one million barrels of light sweet crude for delivery between October 15 and November 10. The results are due by August 22.
Taiwan’s CPC held a tender to buy an undetermined amount of light sweet crude for October delivery.
India’s HPCL issued a tender for crude loading in the second half of October. The tender closes on August 23.
