Loading programs and tenders for Malaysia's crudes emerged last week, with more expected to be issued this week along with PTT's usual sweet crude buy tender for IRPC, edging up momentum for the December trading cycle of the Asian sweet crude market, sources said.
Yet for condensates, a lack of strength in the naphtha market and a sizable overhang despite recent trading activity, weighed down on sentiment, market sources said.
Planned exports of Malaysia's Kimanis crude for December totaled 6 million barrels, down from 6.6 million barrels in November, trade sources said. Among spot tenders, Petronas issued tenders offering Bunga Orkid and Bunga Kekwa crudes as well as Muda condensate, while Petroleum Brunei issued a tender offering Kimanis crude, and Vietnam's PV Oil issued a tender for Rong Doi condensate last week.
Among others, a November-loading NWS cargo and an October-loading Bayu Undan condensate cargo held by trading houses were heard still seeking buyers, sources said as of mid-last week.
On recent sales of Australia's North West Shelf condensate, market sources said BHP Billiton sold its December 4-8 loading cargo, and Chevron sold its December 25-29 loading cargo. The BHP Billiton cargo was heard sold to a trading house at a discount of around 75 cents/b to Platts Dated Brent on an FOB basis, while the Chevron cargo was heard sold to a regional end-user at a discount of around 40 cents/b to Platts Dated Brent on an FOB basis.
Two cargoes of Ichthys condensate were recently sold. In addition to Inpex selling an October 28-31 loading cargo to Trafigura reported earlier, market sources said Total sold an end-November loading cargo to an unidentified Chinese end-user. Market sources at Unipec said they did not buy Total's cargo, while Fujian refiner Fuhaichuang could not be reached for comment. Condensate cargoes sold into China are typically procured by the two, though Fuhaichuang usually buys its cargoes through a third party.
Price details for Inpex's Ichthys cargo sale to Trafigura was around flat to a small premium to Platts Dated Brent on a delivered basis to Napa Napa, Papua New Guinea, and traders said a similar price was likely for Total's end-November loading cargo.
South Korean end-users bought all four cargoes of Qatar's low sulfur condensate in its tender offering December-loading cargoes, traders said. Two cargoes of 500,000 barrels each were sold to Hanwha Total, one cargo to Hyundai Oilbank and one cargo to SK Energy, market sources said. The cargoes were heard sold at around a $2.75/b premium to Platts Dubai crude assessments on an FOB basis.
The traded premiums were on the high side for some traders, who cited the narrowing Brent/Dubai spread and rising freight rates as factors against Qatari condensates. "Seems Koreans have a clear preference for this grade and will pay up," one trader said.
A higher premium was heard for Sokol crude, as India's ONGC Videsh awarded via tender a cargo loading over December 20-26 to Mitsubishi Corp.'s trading arm Petro-Diamond, at a premium of around $5.65/b to Platts Dubai crude assessments on a CFR North Asia basis, market sources said.
Traders said the company likely had a special requirement for the cargo and was willing to pay a premium for it. "That's good value, considering where the market is," one sweet crude trader said, adding that value for Sokol crude cargoes were more in the low-$5s/b to Platts Dubai crude assessments.
Chinese refiners were spotted sourcing Canada's Cold Lake Blend, with at least four such cargoes loading on Aframax tankers in Vancouver over October and November bound for China. Apart from Chinese end-users, South Korean refiners had picked up a few Cold Lake Blend cargoes earlier this year.
