Med Crude-Urals Stronger in Baltic as Surgut Sells Cargoes
Russian Urals crude price differentials strengthened in the Baltic in a spot tender on Tuesday after loading schedules confirmed scarce export volumes for May.
There was no deals in the Platts window, traders said while adding that trader Talmay won spot tenders by oil firm Surgut to lift two cargoes of Urals loading at the Baltic port of Ust-Luga.
The price for cargoes loading on May 15-16 and 21-22 was pegged at around dated Brent minus 85-90 cents a barrel, when adding freight to the original FOB-basis price, some 20-25 cents stronger than previous price estimates.
Talmay was believed to have resold barrels to China's Unipec, traders added.
On Monday, a loading schedule for Russian Baltic Sea ports showed the total number of cargoes dropping to 53 in May from 62 in April.
Greece's biggest oil refiner Hellenic called a tender to buy 80,000 tonnes of Urals in the Mediterranean. The tender closes on April 29.
Italian refiner Saras and Russian energy giant Rosneft have called off plans to set up a trading joint venture, Saras said on Tuesday.
Iraq's SOMO has informed its partners they can start loading Basra Heavy crude from June, changing last week's decision to launch the new grade in May.
(Reporting by Gleb Gorodyankin and Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by William Hardy)