Middle East Crude

　State-owned Saudi Aramco planned to reduce December-loading term supplies to its long-term contractors to China. Aramco would supply a total of 36 million barrels in December, down by 3.00-3.50 million barrels from the previous month's 39.00-39.50 million barrels. Saudi's supply fell for the second month in a row. As for the background for the fall, a major source says, "China prioritized buying of Abu Dhabi grades as prices became competitive. In addition, Chinese buyers were increasing intake of Brazilian grades and this was cited as a factor for the drop in their purchase of Saudi Arabian grades." Meanwhile, Saudi Aramco increased December-loading term supply volumes to its long-term contractors in India and Japan.

African/European/Russian/American Crude

　 In trade for US grades, one cargo bound for India changed hands. Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) purchased 2mil barrels of WTI Midland for January arrival via a tender. The seller was Norway's Equinor and the price was at premiums in the mid $4's to Dated Brent. Meanwhile, HPCL also bought one Abu Dhabi's cargo. Through the tender closed on November 6 at 9:00 India time, HPCL was seeking a total of two cargoes (each 2mil barrels ) for Jan 7-15 arrival and Jan 17-25 arrival. Meanwhile, India's other end-users such as India's Oil Corp (IOC) and Baharat Petroleum (BPCL) apparently considered buying WTI Midland for January arrival. Following the US request for India to halt purchases of Russian grades, the above end-users were trying to gradually reduce intake of Russian oil such as Urals and were considering increasing purchases of US grades and West African grades as alternatives.

Asia Pacific Crude

　 In trade for January-loading Australia's Ichthys condensate, INPEX would supply two cargoes. INPEX would handle two cargoes for Jan 8-12 loading and Jan 20-24 loading. In regard with December-loading, INPEX skipped a spot sale of one cargo for Dec 23-27 loading.　At the Ichthys LNG project, a glitch had occurred in a heat exchanger of the second train shortly after maintenance work had been completed, causing delays in loadings of Ichthys condensate scheduled for October to December-loading. While the production issue now appeared to have been resolved, "INPEX seems in no rush to sell Ichthys condensate, prioritizing the prevention of any recurrence of the problem," said a Northeast Asian energy company.