Middle East Crude

In the trade of February-loading Abu Dhabi medium/heavy grades, sellers moved to place Upper Zakum though there were concerns that slack demand/supply fundamentals might continue, following January-loading. On the other hand, some buyers hunted for bargains. Norway's Equinor, Hengli Petrochemical, US ExxonMobil and Shell on December 10 sold one cargo each. The prices for all cargoes were at the same level as February-loading Dubai. Glencore bought all four cargoes.

African/European/Russian/American Crude

In trade for African grades, January-loading Senegal's Sangomar changed hands. The seller was Australia's Woodside and the price was at discounts of $1.7 to Dated Brent although the buyer was unknown, according to sources. Sangomar is a sweet crude with an API gravity of 30-32. The Sangomar oil field, located offshore Senegal, is operated as a joint development project by Woodside and Senegal's state-owned Petrosen.

Asia Pacific Crude

Vietnam's Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical (BSR) purchased Brunei's Champion in its February arrival sweet crude tender that closed on Dec 4. The details including the awarded price were unknown. BSR in the tender also procured Angolan Palanca. But BSR appeared to have curbed procurements of arbitrage cargoes as freight rates remained high. The company appeared to be keen on procuring short-hauled Vietnamese cargoes for February-loading.