Middle East Crude

　In trade for November-loading Dubai, two cargoes were scheduled to be supplied, which was one cargo less than October-loading. The Dubai Department of Petroleum Affairs (DPA) allocated one cargo each to PetroChina and US Occidental Petroleum. The production of Dubai was considerably declining due to the depletion of oil fields. In 1990, production had been estimated at 350,000 to 400,000 barrels per day, but it had halved to around 200,000 barrels per day by 2000. Further, the current production dropped to around 40,000 to 50,000 barrels per day.

African/European/Russian/American Crude

　Most of Russian Sokol cargoes are now heading to India. The latest traded levels for Sokol for November arrival were heard at around flat to Dubai quotes on a CFR West India basis. Of these, state-owned Indian Corp (IOC) was believed to have taken five to six cargoes per month including cargoes taken under the term contract. The current production for Sokol was said to be about eight to nine cargoes per month.

Asia Pacific Crude

　In trade for October-loading Australian grades, Australia's Woodside floated a Vincent sell tender and closed the tender on Wednesday. Through the tender, the producer was trying to sell one cargo for Oct 13-17 loading. Several end-users participated in the tender and was trying to buy Vincent in order to blend with fuel oil, according to sources. Thus, one trader in Singapore predicted that the awarded price might be considerably higher than the price for September-loading. Mitsui Energy Trading Singapore (METS) had sold September-loading Vincent at premiums in the $9's to Dated Brent.