Qatar Petroleum and Emirates National Oil Company are offering prompt-month condensate cargoes as some June-loading Qatari ultra-light crude barrels became homeless due to various restrictions imposed on vessels moving in and out of Qatari ports, market sources said Thursday.
Qatar Petroleum for the Sale of Petroleum Products, QP's marketing arm, has recently been offering deodorized field condensate and low sulfur condensate for loading in June and July, while ENOC was also showing some DFC barrels for loading in June to several South Korean end-users, sources with knowledge of the matter said.
The latest move by the state-run Qatari firm and the Dubai government entity comes after a decision by several Middle Eastern states, including the UAE, to cut ties with Doha.
The severing of ties has been followed by various Persian Gulf ports banning vessels going to and coming from Qatar.
Market sources said the latest logistical constraints caused many headaches for Asian crude oil buyers as they often fix large vessels to load Qatari condensate with various other Middle Eastern crude grades.
"What I suspect is that there was a term or spot buyer who canceled the June DFC and LSC purchase deal [because of so many geopolitical and logistics uncertainties in the area] ... QPSPP has to find a new buyer to take the barrels now," said a Singapore-based condensate trader.
In April, QPSPP was said to have sold via spot tender five 500,000-barrel cargoes of DFC for loading in June from Ras Laffan to two Northeast Asian refiners, two trading firms and an oil major.
The cargoes were awarded at premiums of $1.10-$1.50/b to the Platts front-month Dubai crude assessments on a FOB basis, sharply lower than premiums close to $3/b heard awarded for May loading cargoes in the previous trading cycle.
DFC, LSC SUPPLY TO JEBEL ALI LIKELY BLOCKED
Meanwhile, market sources said the regular monthly delivery of DFC and LSC from Ras Laffan to ENOC's 140,000 b/d condensate refinery at Jebel Ali could be in jeopardy due to the possible blockade of vessels moving to the UAE from Qatar's Ras Laffan.
"ENOC has actually approached us yesterday morning, asking if we are interested in taking some of their DFC barrels for loading in June," a source at a South Korean refining company told S&P Global Platts.
"It's highly likely that ENOC may have been forbidden to bring [the Qatari condensate cargoes] to Jebel Ali," the source added.
ENOC's Jebel Ali refinery typically processes condensate from Qatar, Iran and Australia. ENOC regularly buys DFC and LSC on either term or spot basis for the plant.
Most recently, QPSPP was said to have sold via spot tender last month, two 500,000-barrel DFC cargoes for July loading to a South Korean end-user and an oil major, as well as one 500,000-barrel cargo of LSC for July to ENOC.
"Basically, ENOC's [June DFC and LSC cargoes scheduled to move to Jebel Ali] are already banned," the Singapore-based condensate trader said.
Officials at ENOC's Dubai office could not immediately be reached for confirmation, while ENOC Singapore declined to comment about the status of the company's Qatari condensate supply contract and the latest prompt-month DFC cargo offer.
