Middle East Crude

India Oil Corp (IOC) bought a total of 5.0 mil bbl of crude grades in its October loading or November arrival buy tender closed on Aug 12. Of these, it secured 2.0 mil bbl of Middle Eastern crudes, or 1.0 mil bbl each of Abu Dhabi Das and Upper Zakum. The seller for the Das and Upper Zakum was European Vitol. The purchase this time boosted IOC's total procurements of Middle Eastern grades to a total of 7.0 mil bbl for October-loading, consisting of 5.0 mil bbl of Das and 1.0 mil bbl each of Murban and Das. Amid fading demand from other countries in Asia such as China, "Only India shows keen buying interest," said a trader in Singapore.

African/European/Russian/American Crude

Sakhalin Sokol for October-loading weakened from the previous month. Overall demand was moderate. India's Oil and Natural Gas Cor (ONGC) sold one cargo for Oct 3-9 loading in its sell tender closed on Aug 10. The price was said to be at a premium of $3.40-3.50 to Dubai quotes and the buyer was said to be US Chevron for its subsidiary GS Caltex.

Asia Pacific Crude

Spot differentials for October-loading Vietnamese grades fell from the previous month. The COVID-19 outbreak was spreading in Asia mainly in Southeast Asia while the arbitrage window of US grades for Asia was open. State-run PV Oil sold two Rang Dong cargoes (200,000bbl each) for Oct 6-12 and 21-27 loading in its sell tender closed on Aug 10. It later turned out that PTT Public Co. in Thailand procured one cargo in addition to US ExxonMobil. The prices were at premiums of $1.20-1.50 to DTD Brent. Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical (BSR) in Vietnam recently had taken back Rang Dong into its domestic refinery, but domestic refinery run rates declined, so that the cargoes were released in the spot market via the sell tender.