Iraq’s SOMO has sold 500,000 barrels of Qaiyarah crude to U.S. refiner Valero Energy VLO.N, out of the 2 million barrels it offered via a tender on the S&P Platts Market on Close process late on Thursday, trade sources said.

Iraq’s offer of prompt-loading Qaiyarah crude comes at a time when Asian buyers have already completed their purchases for October loading, and after China stepped up imports of similar quality heavy and high-sulphur oil from Canada following the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline that has shortened the distance for shipments from Canada to North Asia.

The cargo to load on Oct. 8-10 was sold at a discount of $28.30 a barrel to the average of Platts Oman and Dubai quotes on a free on board basis from New Dynasty, the sources said.

New Dynasty is a very large crude carrier that is used as floating storage at Khor al Zubair.

There is still 1.5 million barrels of Qaiyarah crude left unsold, one of the sources said.

The tender marks the first from SOMO via the MOC process since April 2022, said Joel Hanley, global director, crude and fuel oil markets, S&P Global Commodity Insights.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Tom Hogue)