LONDON, Sept 18 – A flurry of forthcoming tenders restricted spot trade in the Nigerian and Angolan crude markets on Tuesday.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!State refiners in India, Indonesia, Taiwan and Thailand are all seeking light, sweet crude this week. Most are fairly regular buyers of West African grades, which made sellers reluctant to offer cargoes on the spot market, one trader said.
Meanwhile, BP was again bidding for Nigerian cargoes loading in late October and early November without making a purchase, traders said.
BP bid for a couple of cargoes of Forcados loading Nov. 5-12 at $1.50 a barrel above the dated Brent price. On Monday BP raised its bid price for Forcados and Bonga to as much as $1.70 a barrel.
Activity was muted ahead of the imminent release of the major Nigerian November loading programmes, traders said.
ANGOLA
* The November loading programme will fall to 44 cargoes, from October’s 49, according to a preliminary schedule seen by traders on Monday.
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TENDERS
* IOC was believed to have awarded a tender to purchase a West African grade to Equinor and Chevron, traders said.
* Thailand’s PTT is looking for 300,000 to 1 million barrels of light sweet crude for delivery between Nov. 25 and Dec. 20. The results are due on Thursday.
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* Taiwan’s CPC issued a tender to purchase an unspecified amount of light sweet crude for delivery in November. The tender closes on Tuesday, with results due on Thursday.
* Indonesia’s Pertamina issued a tender to buy two 600,000 barrel cargoes of light sweet crude for delivery over Nov. 1-7 or Nov. 14-21. The size of the tender made a WAF grade an unlikely choice, traders said. (Reporting by Amanda Cooper Editing by David Goodman) ))