Asia-Pacific crude fell on Friday, with Indian Oil Corp (IOC) shunning regional grades in its first tender for September barrels, compared with a month ago when it bought Malaysian Kikeh in its first tender for August.
IOC bought almost 4 million barrels of West African crude in its first tender for September-loading sweet grades, including 950,000 barrels of the new Angolan Saxi grade, traders said. The cargoes bought included 980,000 barrels of Nigerian Yoho crude, its first spot purchase of the grade since it came onstream in 2003, according to Reuters records.
With an American Petroleum Index (API) of 32.7, and a sulphur content of 0.30 percent, according to the grade's pre-production assay, the grade is a medium-light sweet crude.
IOC's purchase of the new grade, and of the light sweet Yoho crude, comes as it has been looking to vary the source of its crudes. Following this first tender, IOC has issued a second tender to buy September sweet crude. Spot trading was otherwise quiet, with little August cargoes seen remaining on the spot market and trade for September was expected to kick off next week.
A trader said European major BP, which held up to four cargoes of Australian North West Shelf (NWS) condensate for August loading, had resold two of the parcels, instead of one as previously thought. BP bought three cargoes in June, and also held an equity cargo. It was later said to have resold a cargo to US major ExxonMobil but price details never emerged.
The European major was also said to have offered the grade at discounts of between $2.20 and $2.50 a barrel to NWS APPI, but this could not be confirmed. Trading company Mercuria continued to bid Minas crude on Friday, raising its bids to as high as a $3.50 a barrel premium to August Brent, as it did on Thursday. High Minas quotes usually pressure differentials for all crudes priced off it, which include Vietnamese, Sudanese and some Australian grades.
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