Angola’s July exports had almost all sold out by Friday and Vitol likely won an Indian buy
Only a small handful of Angolan crude cargoes remain for export in July and have taken an unusually long time to sell.
Also, a significant product inventories in China and the exhausting of the latest import quotas by teapot refineries there has led to slower sales and ebbing differentials for heavier oil grades from West Africa.
While, reduced exports from Iraq in line with a producer pact to rein in supply especially affects supply to India, and traders expect Nigerian oil will likely benefit especially, if Indian refiners begin to seek more sweet oil.
The official selling prices for Nigerian exports for July are expected imminently, with traders expecting little change to light sweet crude prices due to lacklustre European demand and persistently poor refining margins.
Vitol likely won two buy tenders for four million barrels of oil, including mostly West African grades – one is for Sept. 1-10 delivery and the other for Oct. 1-10 – traders said, but details did not emerge.
In a related development, a second and final trio of ships used as floating storage tanks for gasoline is on route to unload cargoes in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Malaysia, according to industry sources and shipping data, showing fuel demand is growing across Asia.
Furthermore, a recovery in demand for gasoline in the United States, the world’s largest market for the motor fuel, hit a plateau last week as coronavirus cases surged in some states, undercutting refiners’ efforts to ramp up low fuel production.
Reuters
