SINGAPORE, Oct 17 (Reuters) - The Asia-Pacific crude oil market remained firm on Wednesday with Malaysia expected to load slightly lower volumes of Kimanis cargoes in December, industry sources said.
MALAYSIA
* Malaysia's Petronas has offered 350,000 barrels of Bunga Kekwa for loading over Dec. 5 to 11 in a tender that closes on Oct. 19 and valid until Oct. 22.
* Malaysia's exports of Kimanis crude oil are expected to drop to 10 cargoes in December, from 11 in the previous month, industry sources said on Wednesday
Petronas will be allocated four cargoes, while Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSa) RDSa.AS will have three cargoes to market, one of the sources said.
PetroBrunei, ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) and Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) will each have a cargo, the source added. Seller
Grade
Volume Loading date
(KB)
Shell
Kimanis
600 Dec 2-6 Petronas
Kimanis
600 Dec 5-9 PetroBrunei
Kimanis
600 Dec 8-12 Petronas
Kimanis
600 Dec 11-15 Shell
Kimanis
600 Dec 14-18 ConocoPhillips Kimanis
600 Dec 17-21 Petronas
Kimanis
600 Dec 20-24 Murphy Oil
Kimanis
600 Dec 23-27 Shell
Kimanis
600 Dec 26-30 Petronas
Kimanis
600 Dec 29-Jan 2
BRENT-DUBAI EFS
* Brent's premium to Dubai swaps DUB-EFS-1M was at $2.53 per barrel for December.
NEWS
* Statements by the United States that it would reduce Iran's oil exports to zero are a "political bluff", the head of state-run National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said, according to a report published by Tasnim news agency on Wednesday.
U.S. officials have said they aim to cut Iran's oil exports to zero to force its leaders to change their behaviour in the region. U.S. sanctions on Iran's oil exports are scheduled to kick in on Nov. 4.
* India hopes to invite bids in three to four months to fill a storage facility in southern India with 19 million barrels of oil, the chief executive of Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Ltd said on Wednesday. company will be inviting bids for crude for the Padur strategic petroleum reserve in the southern state of Karnataka which can hold 2.5 million tonnes of oil, Chief Executive H.P.S. Ahuja said.
* Ship owners accelerated installations of engine cleaning systems this year ahead of stringent new rules in 2020 which sharply reduce the amount of sulphur ships can emit from the 3.5 percent in current bunker fuel to 0.5 percent, according to a report. The Chinese city of Zhoushan is in talks with oil major Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) to build a $7 billion ethylene plant in the city south of Shanghai, it said in a statement released on Wednesday. facility would have annual production capacity of 1.5 million to 1.8 million tonnes, the statement said, making it larger than the 1.2 million-tonnes-per-year plant Exxon plans in the city of Huizhou in the southern province of Guangdong.
* Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) started producing and exporting a new crude grade known as Umm Lulu this month, a company spokesman said on Wednesday. Lulu is a blend produced from its Umm Lulu and SARB fields, operated by ADNOC Offshore, with initial production of 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) and is exported from Zirku Island in the United Arab Emirates.
For crude prices, oil product cracks and refining margins, please click on the RICs below.
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