Middle East Crude

Spot differentials for Iraqi Basrah Light for March-loading flipped into negative territory. End-users in China, main buyers for Basrah Light, were unable to receive large volumes of term cargoes, creating abundant supplies. In China, a number of refiners reduced crude runs and some of refiners were said to have suspended operations. As a result, Iraqi State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) asked its term buyers to more barrels in a bid to clear the excess avails. A player in Northeast Asia said, "Appetite for spot cargoes are rarely witnessed. Basrah Light is currently offered at a small premium to OSP, but the market would flip into negative territory eventually." The player added that the tradable levels for March-loading would be at small discounts to OSP. The April-loading market was believed to be at the similar levels as March-loading.

African/European/Russian/American Crude

The market for April-loading Sakhalin Sokol plunged. Supplies for rival light grades such as US and Abu Dhabi were abundant, while demand was thin in the wake of regular maintenances at Japanese and South Korean refineries and the new coronavirus outbreak in China. US ExxonMobil sold two of three Sokol cargoes via its sell tender closed on Wednesday. The details of the buyers were unknown at this stage but the buyers were likely to be players other than end-users in Japan and South Korea. The prices were said to be at premiums of $3.40-3.50 to Dubai quotes. After the deal, Europe's Trafigura was said to have offered Sokol at a premium of around $3.20 to Dubai quotes, but it was unclear whether the cargo was sold or not.

Asia Pacific Crude

Indonesia's Pertamina was found to have purchased one 650,000bbl cargo of Australian NWSC in its condensate buy tender for second-half April arrival close on Feb 6 on behalf of the country's petrochemical firm TPPI. Further details including the price were not immediately known, but one of two cargoes for 19-21 and 26-28 loading sought in the tender was awarded. Meanwhile, Pertamina closed on Feb 10 similar tenders to buy condensates for Apr 22-24 and May 1-3 arrival, respectively, but the tenders had yet to be concluded.