Iraq's Southern Oil Exports Slip in February
Iraq's southern oil exports dropped slightly in February to an average of 3.225 million barrels per day (bpd), the oil ministry said on Tuesday. Shipments from the southern terminals in the Gulf fell from 3.285 million bpd in January as several days of bad weather delayed loading operations. All of the exports were from Iraq's southern ports, ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said. For a fifth consecutive month, Baghdad exported no oil via its northern pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. Iraq depends almost entirely on its southern exports after the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in the north ramped up its own independent oil sales via Ceyhan in June 2015 while cutting allocations to Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO).
Baltic Med Crude-Urals Weakens, Opens Arb Options
Russian Urals crude weakened in the Baltic on Wednesday due to a number of unsold cargoes while Kazakh CPC continued to strengthen due to a lack of sweet barrels. In the Platts window, Trafigura bought a cargo of Urals from Eni at dated Brent minus $1.30 a barrel, some 35 cents weaker than previous price estimates, traders said. Total bid for a cargo of CPC at dated Brent minus 40 cents, some 10 cents stronger than previous price estimates. The price of Urals in southern Europe moved closer to parity with dated Brent due to an absence of Iraq's Kirkuk crude, strong demand and attractive refining margins, traders said. Urals differentials in the Mediterranean were between minus 20 cents per barrel and parity with the North Sea benchmark, traders said Tuesday.
As Iraq sells more oil to Asia, quality issues emerge
Asia to buy nearly 60 percent of Iraq's Basra Lt exports. Export facilities upgrade, new fields to boost volume in second half, but Buyers remain wary of quality issues, loading delays. Iraq's rush to pump more oil to Asia has coincided with complaints from some buyers about the quality of its crude, casting doubt on whether Baghdad can increase the volumes of its key Basra Light grade to the region by a third in 2014. The Gulf producer has managed to smooth out kinks in its supply chain that curbed Basra Light exports from southern oil terminals last year. The higher output has helped cap oil prices pushed up by recent geopolitical tensions and supply disruptions in Libya, Iraq's own north and elsewhere.
No Tankers At Ceyhan
Iraqi oil exports from the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, Turkey, remained off line on Tuesday as three vessels slated to arrive at the weekend were still unseen, industry sources said. Three tankers had been nominated by Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) for arrival Saturday, Sunday and Monday, but the port has been idle since the two-million-barrel Amazon Falcon sailed on Saturday, the sources said. Some sources said the Orient Tiger and Front Champion -- both very large crude carriers (VLCCs) -- could potentially arrive the next day or two, but others noted that no formal estimated time of arrival (ETA) had been supplied. The Crudesky, a SuezMax, was expected later as it sailed from Novorossiisk only on January 22.
