Russian Urals crude fell to new lows Monday as weak purchasing levels by refiners due to poor refining margins depressed demand for the grade of the world's largest oil producer. Trafigura offered a cargo of Urals in the Baltic at dated Brent minus $3.55 a barrel for June 21-25 delivery but found no buyers, traders said. That was in line with the lows last reached in April 2012 and if the grade weakens by another 10 cents it will fall to levels unseen since May 2011.
Also in the Baltic, Vitol sold a cargo of Urals to Total at dated Brent minus $3.35 for June 28-July 2 delivery. "If it wasn't for the short June loading programme, I think we would have fallen to dated minus $5," one trader said. The Urals crack in the Mediterranean has averaged minus 17 cents a barrel over the past five days, according to Reuters data, and was in negative territory of around minus $1.60 a barrel on Monday. The crack for more complex refineries with a hydrocracker was even lower at minus $3.13 a barrel.
Exports of Azeri Light crude oil will edge higher to 752,000 barrels per day (bpd) in July from the June schedule of 730,000 bpd, a preliminary loading programme showed on Monday. Libya is still able to supply its 120,000-bpd Zawiya refinery without drawing on oil from two offshore fields, an oil ministry official said on Sunday.
Comments
Comments are closed.