Middle East Crude

In the trade of Iraqi grades, spot premiums for Basrah Light rose sharply. Rising demand buoyed the market. Profitability of fluid catalytic crackers (FCC) improved on the back of the widening margin gap between gasoline and fuel oil, thus some end-users preferred to procure fuel oil rich grades. The December-loading OSP formulas for Saudi Arabia's medium heavy grades were revised downward, so that the OSP formula for Basrah Light could follow the move. Under the circumstances, Basrah Light lured demand amid a sense that the current values were attractive. Italian ENI and China International United Petroleum & Chemical Co (UNIPEC) sold one cargo each of prompt December-loading Basrah Light. Those cargoes were done at premiums in the ranges of low $1.00 to $1.70 to OSP. Of these, India's state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) bought the Basrah Light from UNIPEC.

African/European/Russian/American Crude

Viet Nam's Binh Son Petrochemical was said to have bought Azerbaijani Azeri, US WTI, and Brunei's Champion through its term buy tender for January-June 2020 arrival. The seller of Azeri was believed to be Azerbaijan's state-run Socar. The details of the prices were unknown at this moment. Meanwhile, US Occidental Petroleum had offered 2.00 mil bbl of WTI for January arrival at a premium of $7.50 to Dubai quotes on a CFR basis.

Asia Pacific Crude

Australia's Ichthys condensate was forecast to boost availability in 2020 by 15% from the previous year. A combined 30 cargoes in 650,000bbl were supplied in 2019 on the back of a stable growth in production. The supply was likely to reach a combined 35 cargoes or so in 2020. "The output will reach the plateau earlier than we initially expected," a company spokesperson at Japan's INPEX, a stakeholder in Ichthys condensate.