SINGAPORE, June 13 (Reuters) - The Asia-Pacific crude market remained steady on Wednesday though traders expect August-loading cargoes to trade lower due to pressure from more cargoes arriving from the United States.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
* Two 650,000-barrel cargoes of Papua New Guinea Kutubu Light crude oil cargoes will load in August, steady from July, trade sources said.
Oil Search will sell a cargo for loading between Aug. 4 and Aug. 11, while ExxonMobil will sell a cargo for Aug. 20 to 27 loading.
AUSTRALIA
* A July-loading North West Shelf condensate cargo may have been sold by a trader at a discount of $1 a barrel to dated Brent, traders said.
With Pertamina, the main buyer of the Australian condensate up until recently, turning to condensate cargoes from the United States and Equatorial Guinea, differentials of condensates in Asia-Pacific are expected to remain under pressure, traders said.
MALAYSIA
* Malaysia's Petronas may have sold a Kimanis condensate cargo loading in July at a slight discount to dated Brent, traders said, though details of buyer could not immediately be confirmed.
INDONESIA
* Indonesia's Pertamina likely bought the Eagle Ford condensate cargo from Statoil (OL:EQNR), trade sources said, though this could not immediately be confirmed.
It also bought two Alba condensate cargoes from Glencore (LON:GLEN) and Petrodiamond, they added.
One of the Alba condensate cargoes was initially meant to be sold into China's Dragon Aromatics plant, but it did not happen, one of the traders said.
BRENT-DUBAI EFS
* Brent's premium to Dubai swaps DUB-EFS-1M was at $3.25 per barrel for August.
NEWS
* OPEC said the oil market outlook in the second half of 2018 is highly uncertain even though the producer group's figures show a global glut has ended, suggesting talks next week on relaxing a supply cut deal won't be straightforward. Chinese chemical producer Hengli Group HLGRP.UL has bought its first crude oil cargo from Brazil ahead of the start-up of a new refinery in the fourth quarter, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday. At a monthly average in May of 12.9 million barrels, or 26 percent of total global floating storage, Europe had more oil in floating storage than the Asia-Pacific region at 9.7 million, according to data from oil analytics firm Vortexa. estimates the monthly average share of oil in floating storage located in European – including the Mediterranean – in May outstripped volumes floating in Asia-Pacific for the first time since at least the beginning of 2015.
* Saudi Aramco plans to boost investments in refining and petrochemicals to secure new markets for its crude, and sees growth in chemicals as central to its downstream strategy to lessen the risk of a slowdown in oil demand. U.S. crude oil production is expected to rise by less than previously expected to 11.76 million barrels per day (bpd) next year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Tuesday. Vietnam's Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical is considering the sale of a further stake in the company ahead of a possible listing in April next year on the country's main bourse, its chief executive said on Wednesday. Venezuela's state-run PDVSA and partners have halted operations at two upgraders that convert extra heavy oil into exportable crude and plan to stop work at two others, according to six sources close to the projects, a move aimed at easing the strains from a tanker backlog that is delaying shipments. 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