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ADNOC Trading snaps up June-loading Upper Zakum crude, tightens Mideast supply

The trading arm for Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) has purchased numerous Juneloading cargoes of Abu Dhabi's Upper Zakum crude in the area market, tightening up Middle East supply, trade sources said on Wednesday.

ADNOC Trading has purchased least four cargoes of the medium-high sulphur crude from Exxon Mobil Corp, Omani trading company OQ, Repsol and Aramco Trading at premiums of about $2.20-$ 2.30 a barrel to Dubai quotes, they stated, almost $ 1 a barrel greater than the previous month.

ADNOC stated it does not talk about such concerns. The other oil companies typically do not comment on commercial deals.

The purchases come after ADNOC cut Upper Zakum crude exports dramatically in March by diverting supply to its Ruwais refinery which has recently finished an upgrade to process heavier oil into higher quality items. Late in 2015, ADNOC likewise cut yearly supply of Upper Zakum crude to Asian purchasers in 2024 in preparation for the updated refinery's unrefined requirements.

Upper Zakum exports in April are hovering around 550,000 barrels per day, similar to the 545,000 bpd seen in March which was the most affordable level because November 2017, data from analytics company Kpler revealed.

The drop in supply has actually limited the number of cargoes of the Abu Dhabi grade that can be provided throughout S&P Global Platts' price evaluation process for Middle East unrefined Dubai.

That has led to the shipment of more Murban crude on the Platts window, with PetroChina and Dependence having offered 10 cargoes of the Abu Dhabi light-sour grade up until now this month, trade information revealed.