Chinese buyers were on track to make March-loading Angolan crude one of the fastest selling trading cycles in many months on Friday as eased lockdown curbs jump-started demand.

At least 5 March-loading cargoes of Angolan crude remained unsold, ahead of export plans for April due late next week.

China’s Unipec, which in recent months repeatedly offered to resell cargoes from the region in the Platt’s window, had scooped up several March-loading cargoes on top of its term allocations and those of other Chinese buyers.

Monthly loadings of Angolan oil have seldom sold out before the issuance of the next month’s loading programmes since the start of the pandemic, with top customer China maintaining the strictest COVID-19 curbs in the world.

Still, traders described Chinese buying as not on par with some of the faster selling months before 2020, suggesting reliable high demand had yet to return.

Vitol again had yet to find a buyer for a cargo of Angolan Dalia – a partial cargo offered on a delivered basis.

Loading issues persisted on Nigeria’s Bonny Light and Brass River streams, traders said.
Source: Reuters