Urals crude differentials were little changed on Friday in thin trade, while Azery BTC firmed after a deal in the Platts window, market sources said.
Kazakh oil exports via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, a route bypassing Russia, rose by 38% in February from January to 97,300 metric tons (around 28,000 barrels per day), according to data from pipeline company KazTransOil.
Chinese state oil companies are shying away from Russian oil this month, with two importers halting purchases while two others scaled back volumes as they assess compliance following recent U.S. sanctions on Moscow, multiple trade sources said.
PLATTS WINDOW
SOCAR sold to Eni 650,000 barrels of Azeri BTC over April 2-6 at dated Brent plus $2.50 per barrel. That was up by some $0.55 per barrel from the latest price estimates for the grade.
No bids or offers were shown for Urals and CPC Blend in the Platts window on Friday.
NEWS
Global oil demand will pick up in the next months with the summer driving season, Russia’s top oil official said, adding that this was factored into the OPEC+ producer group’s decision to release more oil into the market.
Novak also said there were no talks at the moment about the resumption of Russian oil flows to Germany through the Druzhba pipeline. Germany and Poland stopped purchases of Moscow’s oil in 2023 over the conflict in Ukraine while Hungary and Slovakia still buy oil from Russia.
Source: Reuters