Middle East Crude

　Spot trade for March-loading Abu Dhabi light grades gained momentum. OMV sold Umm Lulu on Tuesday at a Dubai linked price. The buyer was PTT Public co in Thailand. OMV over the past several months sold Umm Lulu to PTT. In addition, Taiyo Oil also purchased March-loading Umm Lulu. The price was unknown but Taiyo Oil bought one cargo each from China International United Petroleum & Chemicals Co (UNIPEC) and French TotalEnergies.

African/European/Russian/American Crude

　In trade for Russian grades, some cargoes bound for India changed hands. Indian Oil Corp (IOC) was said to have bought five cargoes of Urals for February arrival. The prices were unknown but tradable levels for Urals for February arrival were heard at discounts of $7-8 to Dated Brent. Similar to the market for January arrival, supply/demand fundamentals remained slack due to weak spot demand. Indian end-users such as Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemical (MRPL) and Reliance Industries (RIL) and HPCL Mittal Energy (HMEL) suspended spot purchases of Russian grades. This was because the US had requested India to stop imports of Russian grades in October. "Indian buyers other than IOC have increased procurement of alternative grades such as Middle East grades in place of Urals, and are not considering a resumption of Urals purchases at this stage," a Singapore-based trader said.

Asia Pacific Crude

　In the trade of March-loading Malaysian grades, a loading schedule for Kimanis was settled. A total of five cargoes planned to be supplied. One cargo for March 5-9 loading was allocated to US ConocoPhillips while Malaysia's state-owned Petronas planned to handle two cargoes for Mar 11-15, Mar 23-27 loading. Brunei Energy Service Trading (BEST) and British Shell would market one cargo each for Mar 17-21 loading and Mar 29-Apr 2 loading, respectively. Of these, BEST issued a sell tender for the cargo. Meanwhile, other equity holders would take back their cargoes to their own refineries and would not sell March-loading Kimanis in the spot market.