Several cargoes from April loading programmes cleared out on Friday, but trading was otherwise limited while buyers held on for lower differentials to dated Brent.
ANGOLA
* A late April cargo of CLOV traded but further details were not available.
* Chinese buyers, a key outlet for Angolan crude, were slow to pick up fresh cargoes, limiting the sales of medium and heavy grades, traders said.
* Some were expecting lower differentials.
* State-owned Sonangol made its last formal offers on Wednesday, lowering the offer to Dalia to a 20 cent discount, from a 10 cent discount, offering Sangos at minus 40 cents, Saturno at minus 30 cents. It was also offering Hungo at a 10 cent premium.
NIGERIA
* Vitol sold cargoes of Escravos and Qua Iboe for end-April loading.
* ExxonMobil issued yet another revised loading plan for Qua Iboe, at least its fourth revision this year.
* Interest in light grades such as Akpo and Agbami was picking up as gasoline and naphtha cracks improved. Traders said PetroIneos bought a cargo of Akpo, but the differential was not immediately clear.
* Grades such as Bonny Light, Qua Iboe and Escravos were offered at premiums of more than $1 per barrel.
TENDER
* Indonesia’s Pertamina issued a tender to buy crude for June delivery, including Bonny Light, Escravos Qua lboe or Forcados. The tender closes on April 4.
* Trader AOT won a tender to buy Congo’s Djeno, but was already reoffering it to other buyers.
* There is also a tender running to sell Cameroonian Kole.
RELATED NEWS
* Indian state refiners will cut oil imports from Iran in 2017/18 by a fifth, as New Delhi takes a more assertive stance over an impasse on a giant gas field that it wants awarded to an Indian consortium, sources familiar with the matter said.
* Oil analysts have grown more unsure that OPEC’s supply cut will be enough to offset the increase in U.S. production and do not believe prices will reach $60 a barrel until early next year, according to a Reuters poll on Friday.
