Middle East Crude

Spot differentials for February-loading Qatar Marine eased. The new OSP for Qatar Marine was raised, which reduced a sense that Qatar Marine was attractive. State-owed Qatar Petroleum (QP) on Thursday informed its term buyers that the November-loading OSP for Qatar Marine was set at a premium of $2.88 to Dubai quotes, up 50cts from the previous day. In the trade of January-loading Qatar Marine which QP referred to set the OSP, a deal changed hands at a premium of 40-45cts to OSP. Under the circumstances, QP apparently raised the OSP more than the traded level.

African/European/Russian/American Crude

In the trade of Angolan grades, it turned out that Israel's largest oil refiner Bazan purchased one cargo of Cabinda for December-loading. It was the first time for Cabinda to be sold to the company. Cabinda is a sweet grade with a low sulfur content of 0.12%, so that demand was growing ahead of the restriction of sulfur regulations for bunker oil by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) from January 2020. Main buyers for Cabinda used to be buyers in Asia led by end-users in China. But new buyers emerged for Cabinda ahead of the IMO regulations. Bazan has a refinery with a capacity of 197,000 barrels per day (b/d).

Asia Pacific Crude

In the trade of February-loading Vietnamese grades, the country's state-owned PV Oil sold 400,000bbl of Dai Hung for 9-15 loading. The buyer was unknown at this stage, but the cargo was heard done at a premium of above $7.00 to Dated Brent.