Urals crude differentials in northwest Europe were firmer on Thursday on stronger demand for July barrels and limited availability of the grade, traders said. Urals crude oil exports from Russia's Baltic ports were set at 4.7 million tonnes in July compared with 4.9 million tonnes planned for June, the final loading schedule seen by Reuters showed on Thursday.
Russian Urals and Siberian light supplies from Novorossiisk port were set at 2.26 million tonnes in July compared with 2.2 million tonnes planned for June. The final loading plan showed no changes compared with provisional version of the document. In the Platts window, Total bought from Glencore 100,000 tonnes of Baltic Urals for July 8-12 loading at minus $1.50 a barrel to dated Brent. That was up 25 cents from the latest assessment for the grade.
Total also bid for a similar cargo for loading from Primorsk or Ust-Luga on July 17-21. SOCAR bid for 100,000 tonnes of Baltic Urals for July 16-20 loading at minus $1.60 a barrel, but found no seller. There were no bids and offers for Azeri BTC and CPC Blend in the Platts window. Russia's Surgutneftegaz sold in a spot tender 240,000 tonnes of Urals crude in July.
Glencore won the right to lift a 100,000-tonne Urals cargo from Ust-Luga on July 13-14 at a discount of $1.40 a barrel to dated Brent, when adding freight to the original FOB-basis price, which was 35 cents a barrel firmer than the recent estimations. Surgut also sold 140,000 tonnes of Urals from Novorossiisk for July 26-27 loading, but the winner and price details were slow to emerge.
US Energy Secretary Rick Perry said on Thursday he was confident Saudi Arabia and Russia could increase their crude oil production to stabilize the world oil market, and compensate for supply losses caused by renewed US sanctions on Iran.