Two cargoes of Upper Zakum were declared on the Platts Market on Close assessment process Wednesday, making them the ninth and 10th Upper Zakum cargoes for this month.
A 500,000-barrel cargo of February-loading Upper Zakum crude was declared by Unipec to PetroChina, which bought its 180th February Dubai partial from the trader at $49.50/b during the MOC process.
PetroChina also bought its 20th partial of Dubai from Reliance during the MOC process Wednesday, at $49.50/b a few seconds later. Reliance also declared a 500,000-barrel cargo of February-loading Upper Zakum to PetroChina following the convergence.
Altogether, 10 Upper Zakum cargoes have been declared via the Dubai partials convergence mechanism so far this month. All of them have been declared to PetroChina. Nine of the 10 have been sold by Unipec.
Additionally, two Oman cargoes and one Murban cargo have been declared in December via the Oman partials convergence mechanism in the Platts crude MOC process.
The Platts crude MOC process has seen 277 February Dubai partials and 71 February Oman partials traded to date in December, for a total of 348 partials this month.
Under the partials mechanism, the seller declares a full 500,000-barrel cargo of crude oil to the buyer after 20 partials have been traded for the same loading month between the companies.
For Dubai partials, the seller has the option to deliver a Dubai, Oman, Upper Zakum, Al-Shaheen or Murban cargo, with a quality premium to the buyer.
