SINGAPORE, July 27 (Reuters) - The Asia-Pacific crude market held steady on Friday, as more grades were traded at higher premiums than the previous month, supported by a narrow Brent-Dubai price spread, although strong arbitrage inflows capped price gains.
MALAYSIA: More details emerged for ConocoPhillips' Kikeh tender. Conoco may have sold the cargo to ExxonMobil at a premium of low-$4 to dated Brent, traders said. Petronas is offering its September-loading Miri at parity to OSP, they said.
VIETNAM: PV Oil has sold its Ruby cargo to Binh Son refinery at a premium of more than $2 a barrel to dated Brent while its Thang Long cargo went to SOCAR probably at a discount of 50 cents a barrel to dated Brent, traders said.
PV Oil has also sold Rang Dong crude to Unipec although details remained vague.
RUSSIA: Surgutneftegaz has sold six ESPO crude cargoes loading in September at similar premiums from earlier deals, trade sources said.
The producer sold the cargoes at premiums of $2.10-$2.40 a barrel to Dubai quotes, they said.
Buyers include Unipec and Vitol, the sources said.
The spot premium for Russian Sokol crude loading in September hit a one-year low after ONGC sold a cargo via a tender, trade sources said.
ONGC sold the cargo loading between Sept. 19 and Sept. 25 to Vitol at $3-3.10 a barrel above Dubai quotes, they said.
This is the lowest premium since July 2017 and the third cargo sold by ONGC this month, Reuters data showed. SOK-DUB
A narrow Brent-Dubai price spread has squeezed spot premiums for Dubai-linked grades, while Russia is also exporting more Sokol crude in August and September.
Some Russian oil cargoes such as Sokol and ESPO are likely to head to U.S. West Coast amid lower demand in Asia, traders said.
BRENT-DUBAI EFS
Brent's premium to Dubai swaps DUB-EFS-1M slipped further to a fresh 11-month low at $0.96 per barrel, down 22 cents for September.
TENDERS COUNTRY/COMPANY GRADE
VOL
CLOSE (VALID) LOADING DATE VIETNAM/PV OIL
s:Rang Dong
min 6700BPD July 25 (Aug 9) Oct-March VIETNAM/PV OIL
s:Bunga Orkid 300KB
July 26 (Aug 2) Sept 22-28 RUSSIA/ROSNEFT
s:ESPO
740KB
July 25 (July
Sept 16-21
31)
MALAYSIA/PETRONA s:Bergading
200KB
July 25 (July
Sept 21-30 S
cond
30)
VIETNAM/PV OIL
s:Rang Dong
2*200KB
July 24 (July
Sept 8-14,
27)
24-30
July 26 (July
26)
VIETNAM/PETRONAS s:Bunga Kekwa 300KB
July 25 (July
Sept 16-22
26)
VIETNAM/PV OIL
s:Thang Long 250KB
July 18 (July
Sept 4-8
26)
**VIETNAM/PV OIL s:Dai Hung
400KB
July 24
Sept 21-29 TENDERS AWARD
COUNTRY/COMPANY GRADE
VOL
COUNTERPARTY/PR LOADING DATE
ICE
**RUSSIA/SURGUT s:ESPO
6*740KB
Unipec, Vitol
Sept 10-14,
Dubai
13-17, 17-21,
+$2.1-$2.4
20-24, 24-28,
26-30 *RUSSIA/ONGC
s:Sokol
700KB
Vitol Dubai
Sept 19-25
+$3-$3.10
*INDONESIA/PERTA b:Alba + NWS 2*650KB
Glencore (LON:GLEN)
Sept arr MINA
cond
*INDONESIA/PERTA b:Nigerian
3*950KB
NA
Sept 1-3 CFR MINA
Cilacap, Sept
8-9 & 16-17
CFR Balikpapan *VIETNAM/PV OIL s:Ruby
350KB
Binh Son DTD
Sept 3-10
above +$2
*TAIWAN/CPC
b:WTI Midland 4000KB
Occidental DTD Oct arr
ard low +$1 C&F
*TAIWAN/CPC
b:Saharan
2000KB
Vitol
Oct arr
Blend
*TAIWAN/CPC
b:Azeri Lt
>1000KB
Socar
Oct arr
REFINERY
Refining margins in Singapore are set for their biggest monthly gain since 2015 as surging demand for gasoline and jet fuel lifted fuel prices at the same time crude oil dropped, reducing feedstock costs for refiners. Oil Corp, the country's top refiner, has shut a 40,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) crude unit at its 150,000-bpd Haldia refinery on the east coast after a minor fire, a company source said on Friday. Innovation, which owns South Korea's top refiner SK Energy, said on Friday that global refining margins are expected to improve in the second half of the year on firm diesel demand. Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) cancelled the purchase of an Iranian oil cargo earlier this month after its insurance company refused to provide coverage for the crude because of U.S. sanctions, three sources with knowledge of the matter said. U.S. refiner Valero Energy Corp (NYSE:VLO) said on Thursday its U.S., Canadian and British refineries would run up to 95 percent of their combined throughput capacity of 3.1 million barrels per day in the third quarter of 2018. plans to push more crude oil to top importer China by marketing a new medium-sweet grade that could be shipped from October, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. does not use stocks in tanks to help boost oil output and does not have enough stocks to influence the oil market, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters in Johannesburg late on Thursday evening. has agreed to buy U.S. shale oil and gas assets from global miner BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) for $10.5 billion, giving the British oil major a much bigger footprint in oil-rich onshore basins. Cenovus Energy said on Thursday it would hold back on future oil production until pipeline bottlenecks have eased, while some of the country's top oil and gas producers ramped up output in the recent quarter in response to higher demand. crude prices, oil product cracks and refining margins, please click on the RICs below.
Brent
BRENTSGMc1
Dubai
DUBSGSWMc2
Brent/Dubai EFS
DUB-EFS-1M
PRODUCT CRACKS
Fuel oil crack
FO180SGCKMc1
Gasoil crack
GOSGCKMc1
Naphtha crack
NAFOBSGCKMc1
Complex refining margins REF/MARGIN1