Moscow — Urals crude differentials eased again to dated Brent in northwest Europe on Friday as sellers struggled to place September cargoes and weak refining margins weighed.
Urals refining margins on Mediterranean were at $0.94 per barrel on Friday compared to $3.35 per barrel in the last 365 days on average, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.
Caspian CPC Blend differentials were also under pressure due to high supplies of competing U.S. grades to Europe, traders said. A number of September cargoes remained unsold.
PLATTS WINDOW
Total sold 100,000 tonnes of Urals loading from Primorsk to trading firm Petraco at dated Brent minus $1 per barrel, some 20 cents per barrel lower than recent estimations.
Litasco offered 100,000 tonnes of Urals from Primorsk for Sept. 15-19 loading down to minus $1.05 a barrel to dated Brent, but failed to place the cargo.
Trafigura offered 100,000 tonnes of Urals from Primorsk for Sept. 11-15 down to minus $1 a barrel to dated Brent, but failed to find a buyer.
Glencore also offered 100,000 tonnes of Urals loading from Primorsk on Sept. 12-16 at dated Brent minus $1 per barrel, but didn’t find a buyer either.
On CPC Blend, Petroineos sold 93,500 tonnes of the grade for loading on Sept. 19-23 at minus $1.60 a barrel to Total, 40 cents per barrel lower than its offer yesterday.
There were no bids or offers for Azeri BTC in the Platts window on Friday. Traders said.
OPEC oil output has risen in August for the first month this year as higher supply from Iraq and Nigeria outweighed restraint by top exporter Saudi Arabia and losses caused by U.S. sanctions on Iran, a Reuters survey found.
U.S. crude oil output fell for a second straight month in June, dropping by 33,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 12.08 million bpd, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in a monthly report released on Friday.
– Reuters
