SINGAPORE- Middle East crude benchmarks fell on Thursday while spot premiums for Russian ESPO crude loading in August also dropped.
RUSSIA: Surgutneftegaz has sold five cargoes of ESPO Blend crude at lower premiums as demand from Chinese independent refineries softened, multiple trade sources said.
The cargoes were sold at premiums of $3.65 to $4.10 a barrel to Dubai quotes, they said, down from $3.90-$4 a barrel in the previous tender.
Petro-Diamond and Unipec bought two cargoes each, while Glencore took one, the sources said. The cargoes are to load on Aug. 12-16, 15-19, 18-22, 22-26 and 25-29.
ASIA PACIFIC: Petronas has sold an August-loading cargo of Bunga Orkid to a trader at $3.50-$4.00 a barrel above dated Brent while PTT bought the Bunga Kekwa cargo loading in the same month at a premium of $3-$3.50 a barrel.
REFINERY
Pengerang Refining and Petrochemical (PrefChem), a joint venture between Petronas and Saudi Aramco, is expected to restart a crude distillation unit at its oil refinery in Malaysia in July, three sources familiar with the matter said.
Contractors are still assessing the extent of damage at the fire-hit ARDS unit and repairs could take between 3 months and two years, one of the sources said, citing initial estimates.
The CDU will be processing low-sulphur crude in the absence of the desulphurisation unit, the sources said.
By restarting the CDU in July, the refinery is working towards producing fuel that meets commercial specification by the end of the year, they said.
Vitol is building crude oil storage tanks at Tanjung Bin in the southern Malaysian state of Johor to hold feedstock for its new refinery at the same site, a senior company official said.
The tanks are capable of holding 230,000 cubic metres of crude oil, Vitol Asia's President and Chief Executive Officer Kho Hui Meng said in an e-mail.
NEWS
Asian refining margins for gasoil climbed to their highest in nearly four months on Thursday, with market sentiment boosted by refinery run cuts and a dip in Chinese exports last month.
U.S. crude oil stocks fell by nearly 13 million barrels last week, the most in nearly three years, as exports hit a record high, the Energy Information Administration said.
Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) will seek to permanently shut its oil refinery in the city after a massive fire caused substantial damage to the complex, the company confirmed on Wednesday, a day after sources told Reuters about the plans.
(Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Rashmi Aich) ((Florence.Tan@thomsonreuters.com; +65 6870 3497; Reuters Messaging: florence.tan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))C-A ))
