Middle East Crude

　Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC) secured Abu Dhabi Murban from Mitsui & Co in a tender to replace crude grades at the Shibushi National Oil terminal on Sep 18. It later turned out that the cargo was awarded at a premium of more than $20 to OSP on an arrival basis. JOGMEC sought 320,000kl, or about 2.00 million barrels, for Oct 15 to Dec 14 arrival to the Shibushi terminal. Meanwhile, JOGMEC also sought medium grades for the Kamigoto Oil terminal in the same tender, but the award details for medium grades were not heard so far.

African/European/Russian/American Crude

Indonesia's state-owned Pertamina purchased a total of four cargoes, including Nigerian crude, through a tender for October-November arrival. For Nigerian crude, Pertamina purchased Bonny Light from European Vitol and Qua Iboe from US ExxonMobil. Pertamina also bought Angola's Girassol from China International United Petroleum & Chemicals (UNIPEC). In addition, Pertamina purchased WTI Midland from an unidentified seller. The awarded prices for all four cargoes were believed to be at premiums in the $20s to Dated Brent. According to market sources, most offers had been well above Pertamina's target levels. "Sellers were bullish due to strong spot demand for West African and US crude, as well as a sharp rise in freight rates," a Singapore-based trader said.

Asia Pacific Crude

　In trade of November-loading Vietnamese grades, state-owned PV Oil would skip sales of Bunga Kekwa and Bunga Orkid in the international market, according to market sources. PV Oil intended to prioritize supplying these Vietnamese grades to the domestic market. With supply fears for Middle Eastern crudes still in place, PV Oil suspended offering all November-loading Vietnamese grades outside the country in an attempt to securing supplies to the domestic market. Since the Strait of Hormuz was closed, PV Oil so far sold Bunga Kekwa and Bunga Orkid to its 148,000 barrels per day (b/d) Dong Quat refinery in Vietnam. One 300,000 barrels of August-loading Bunga Kekwa, along with one 300,000bbl cargo each of Bunga Orkid for May and August-loading, were placed to the refinery. It would be much more economical to inject domestic