Middle East Crude

Refiners in India actively procured spot cargoes for Abu Dhabi grades via tenders. Indian Oil Corp (IOC) in its tender closed on Aug 1 purchased 2.0 mil bbls of Das for end-Sep to early October arrival on a CFR basis, on top of WTI Midlands. European Trafigura sold the Das at a premium of $2.90 to Dated Brent. In addition, Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) in its tender closed on Aug 4 purchased 2.0 mil bbls of Das from European Mercuria on a October arrival CFR basis, along with West African grades.

African/European/Russian/American Crude

　India's HPCL had purchased 4mil in total, Ghana's Jubilee and Nigeria's Escravos from European Glencore, in addition to 2mil barrels of Das. Through the tender closed on Monday, HPCL was trying to buy 600,000barrels to 1mil barrels. HPCL's move to buy 4 mil barrels, which was significantly more than expected, surprised many market players. Some traders speculated that HPCL might be stockpiling alternative cargoes in response to mounting pressure from the US government, which was urging India to halt imports of Russian grades, mainly Urals. The US government indicated it would impose additional tariffs if India continued importing Russian crude oil.

Asia Pacific Crude

　In the trade of October-loading Australian condensates, a program of NWSC was unveiled. A total of two cargoes, each 650,000bbl, were slated. Mitsui Energy Trading Singapore (METS) and Australia's Woodside would handle one Oct 14-18 loading cargo and one Oct 30-Nov 3 loading cargo, respectively. Meanwhile, for October-loading Wheatstone, a total of two cargoes planned to be loaded.