Asia-Pacific Crude-Supported; PTT buys Northwest Shelf
PTT bought a cargo of Northwest Shelf condensate (NWS) in a tender for early-April arrival at its Rayong plant at around \\$3 a barrel below dated Brent, they said.
The seller could not be identified, but traders said PTT may have bought a cargo loading March 20-25 that was purchased by BP from Woodside at a discount of around \\$3.60 a barrel.
It was not clear if PTT had purchased other grades in its tender.
Three cargoes of NWS is planned to load in April, down from four the previous month. Shell will sell a cargo loading April 6-10, BP an April 15-19 cargo, while Woodside will be marketing a cargo loading April 24-28, according to a loading programme.
Supply would also be limited after Qatar's Tasweeq had told buyers it will not export any cargoes of low sulphur condensate (LSC) in April.
Tasweeq did not sell LSC in its previous two monthly tenders due to maintenance, but it remained unclear why no cargoes would be available April. The company usually sells two to three cargoes of LSC per month.
Limited supply and a strong naphtha market were expected to support spot differentials for regional condensates this month, traders said.
Still, one or two other March-loading NWS cargoes that were bought by trading firms had yet to reappear on the market and may weigh on differentials this month.
Brent-Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS), or Brent's premium to Dubai swaps, narrowed 3 cents to \\$1.60 a barrel.
* TENDERS
PV Oil closed a tender on Monday to sell three 300,000-barrel cargoes of Chim Sao crude loading April 1-5, April 10-14 and April 21-25.
MARKET NEWS
Crude oil imports were one of the few bright spots in weak trade data from China, but they paint too rosy a picture of demand in the world's biggest oil importer, as some of its oil purchases are to build up its strategic reserves.
China will raise retail prices of gasoline by 290 yuan (\\$46) per tonne and of diesel by 280 yuan from Tuesday, the first increase in eight months, after global oil prices recovered some 20 percent in the past two weeks.
The oil price crash has meant slashed budgets, staff layoffs and mothballed projects for big producers, but oil traders will celebrate their best market for years this week.
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