Iraq, Kuwait Lower Crude Prices on Aramco Cut: Persian Gulf Oil

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Iraq, Kuwait Lower Crude Prices on Aramco Cut: Persian Gulf Oil

Iraq, Kuwait Lower Crude Prices on Aramco Cut: Persian Gulf Oil Bloomberg - [1/18/2011]

OPEC members Iraq and Kuwait cut their price formulas for crude for shipments in February, following Saudi Arabia’s price reductions for most buyers. Refineries in Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain plan maintenance stoppages in the next several weeks.

The following recaps Persian Gulf crude and product market news from last week and looks at events to come:

Crude Oil

Iraq, the third-largest producer in OPEC, cut the official price formulas for all its crude grades and destinations for February, according to price lists published by the State Oil Marketing Co. Basrah Light and Kirkuk, the two grades sold by the Middle Eastern state, will sell for 20 cents a barrel less in February than in January.

Kuwait, OPEC’s fifth-biggest producer, widened the price differential for February crude shipments to Asia to a discount of $1.25 a barrel below the average of the Oman and Dubai oil benchmarks as assessed by Platts. That’s a 40 cents-a-barrel reduction from January prices. Saudi Arabia, the largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, reduced prices to most buyers on Jan. 5.

Yemen increased the official selling price formula for March shipments of its Masila crude, narrowing the discount for the grade to 37 cents a barrel below dated Brent, the main European oil benchmark. The Marib Light grade will sell at parity to Brent for a ninth month in March.

BP Plc chartered a vessel to carry Russian crude to the U.S. West Coast, according to data from Clarksons Plc on Jan. 14. BP booked the Helga Spirit to carry 100,000 metric tons of oil loading from the Russian Far East port of Kozmino on Jan. 20, after a pipeline shutdown in Alaska limited supplies to the region, according to Clarksons.

The Alaskan pipeline closure may force U.S. West Coast refiners to purchase crude from Oman and Russia to make up a shortfall in supplies, pushing Middle East benchmark prices higher, Societe Generale SA and JPMorgan Chase & Co. wrote in reports last week.

Qatar International Petroleum Marketing Co., or Tasweeq, offered to sell 3.6 million barrels of Al-Shaheen crude for March loading. That’s twice the number of cargoes the company offered for February. Offers close Jan. 17.

Dubai Mercantile Exchange, the United Arab Emirates-based market for oil futures, said its trading volume increased 35 percent in 2010 from the previous year. Trading in the Oman Crude Oil futures contract, the only one offered by the exchange, reached an average daily volume of 2,898 contracts last year.

Middle Distillates

Kuwait Petroleum Corp. will supply Ethiopia and Egypt with jet fuel and diesel, the Kuwait News Agency KUNA reported Jan. 16, citing a company statement.

U.A.E.-based fuel retailers Emirates National Oil Co., Emarat and Emirates Petroleum Products Co. will raise the price of diesel by 5 percent from Jan. 16, Al Bayan reported Jan. 13. Diesel will cost 2.9 dirhams (79 cents) a liter after the increase, the newspaper said.

Light Products

Kuwait Petroleum Corp. sold 150,000 metric tons of naphtha for February loading at about $19 a ton above Middle East prices, ICIS reported today, citing traders it didn’t identify.

Kuwait Petroleum offered to sell two cargoes of naphtha for February loading, ICIS reported Jan. 13, citing traders it didn’t identify. The company plans to sell 50,000 metric tons of full-range naphtha and 24,000 tons of light naphtha for loading Feb. 14 to Feb. 25, ICIS said, adding that bids closed that day.

Refineries

State-owned Bahrain Petroleum Co. is planning a partial shutdown for maintenance at the 267,000 barrel-a-day refinery’s low-sulfur diesel plant, from Feb. 16 until early April.

Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Co., the government-owned refiner known as Takreer, expects to shut the 400,000 barrel-a-day Ruwais refinery’s second condensate train for refurbishment for a month starting in mid-January. The train has a capacity of 140,000 barrels a day.

Saudi Aramco plans maintenance at its wholly owned Yanbu refinery in February. The facility refines 225,000 barrels of crude a day.

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=14704

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Iraq, Kuwait Lower Crude Prices on Aramco Cut: Persian Gulf Oil

Iraq, Kuwait Lower Crude Prices on Aramco Cut: Persian Gulf Oil Bloomberg - [1/18/2011]

OPEC members Iraq and Kuwait cut their price formulas for crude for shipments in February, following Saudi Arabia’s price reductions for most buyers. Refineries in Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain plan maintenance stoppages in the next several weeks.

The following recaps Persian Gulf crude and product market news from last week and looks at events to come:

Crude Oil

Iraq, the third-largest producer in OPEC, cut the official price formulas for all its crude grades and destinations for February, according to price lists published by the State Oil Marketing Co. Basrah Light and Kirkuk, the two grades sold by the Middle Eastern state, will sell for 20 cents a barrel less in February than in January.

Kuwait, OPEC’s fifth-biggest producer, widened the price differential for February crude shipments to Asia to a discount of $1.25 a barrel below the average of the Oman and Dubai oil benchmarks as assessed by Platts. That’s a 40 cents-a-barrel reduction from January prices. Saudi Arabia, the largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, reduced prices to most buyers on Jan. 5.

Yemen increased the official selling price formula for March shipments of its Masila crude, narrowing the discount for the grade to 37 cents a barrel below dated Brent, the main European oil benchmark. The Marib Light grade will sell at parity to Brent for a ninth month in March.

BP Plc chartered a vessel to carry Russian crude to the U.S. West Coast, according to data from Clarksons Plc on Jan. 14. BP booked the Helga Spirit to carry 100,000 metric tons of oil loading from the Russian Far East port of Kozmino on Jan. 20, after a pipeline shutdown in Alaska limited supplies to the region, according to Clarksons.

The Alaskan pipeline closure may force U.S. West Coast refiners to purchase crude from Oman and Russia to make up a shortfall in supplies, pushing Middle East benchmark prices higher, Societe Generale SA and JPMorgan Chase & Co. wrote in reports last week.

Qatar International Petroleum Marketing Co., or Tasweeq, offered to sell 3.6 million barrels of Al-Shaheen crude for March loading. That’s twice the number of cargoes the company offered for February. Offers close Jan. 17.

Dubai Mercantile Exchange, the United Arab Emirates-based market for oil futures, said its trading volume increased 35 percent in 2010 from the previous year. Trading in the Oman Crude Oil futures contract, the only one offered by the exchange, reached an average daily volume of 2,898 contracts last year.

Middle Distillates

Kuwait Petroleum Corp. will supply Ethiopia and Egypt with jet fuel and diesel, the Kuwait News Agency KUNA reported Jan. 16, citing a company statement.

U.A.E.-based fuel retailers Emirates National Oil Co., Emarat and Emirates Petroleum Products Co. will raise the price of diesel by 5 percent from Jan. 16, Al Bayan reported Jan. 13. Diesel will cost 2.9 dirhams (79 cents) a liter after the increase, the newspaper said.

Light Products

Kuwait Petroleum Corp. sold 150,000 metric tons of naphtha for February loading at about $19 a ton above Middle East prices, ICIS reported today, citing traders it didn’t identify.

Kuwait Petroleum offered to sell two cargoes of naphtha for February loading, ICIS reported Jan. 13, citing traders it didn’t identify. The company plans to sell 50,000 metric tons of full-range naphtha and 24,000 tons of light naphtha for loading Feb. 14 to Feb. 25, ICIS said, adding that bids closed that day.

Refineries

State-owned Bahrain Petroleum Co. is planning a partial shutdown for maintenance at the 267,000 barrel-a-day refinery’s low-sulfur diesel plant, from Feb. 16 until early April.

Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Co., the government-owned refiner known as Takreer, expects to shut the 400,000 barrel-a-day Ruwais refinery’s second condensate train for refurbishment for a month starting in mid-January. The train has a capacity of 140,000 barrels a day.

Saudi Aramco plans maintenance at its wholly owned Yanbu refinery in February. The facility refines 225,000 barrels of crude a day.

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=14704

Is it just me or does this article make it seem like gas prices are about to go through the roof?? Am I reading this wrong??