Middle East Crude

May-loading Abu Dhabi Murban flipped into hefty discounts to OSP. In addition to rising supply, the market was under pressure on weak demand following an explosion at the Pengerang refinery in Malaysia. British BP sold one cargo of May 1-25 loading Murban on Thursday. The price was heard at a discount of around 70cts to OSP and the buyer was said to be an end-user in India. "The latest OSP was slashed, but physical demand is weak amid abundant supplies, so that the market shows no signs of recovering," said a Japanese trading house source.

African/European/Russian/American Crude

April-loading Nigeria Qua Iboe values flipped into negative territory. In Europe, the COVID-19 outbreak was rapidly spreading, which eroded crude oil demand. In addition, there were ample supplies for Russian Urals, and Saudi Arabia supplied a large chunk of light grades cargoes to its term buyers, thus demand for Nigerian grades faltered. Furthermore, surging freight rates weighed on the market. Europe's Trafigura heard offered a Qua Iboe cargo for Apr 23-24 loading at a discount of 70cts to DTD Brent, so that the tradable levels of Qua Iboe would be at slightly below the offer price. Under the circumstances, there were about 30 uncommitted cargoes for April-loading Nigerian grades including Qua Iboe.

Asia Pacific Crude

Spot differentials for May-loading Malaysian Labuan softened. The market was dragged down by worsening supply-demand fundamentals for light grades across the globe. Petronas sold one 300,000bbl cargo of Labuan for end-May loading. Price details remained sketchy at this stage, but the cargo was said to have fetched a premium of slightly more than $4 over DTD Brent. The weakness came in part from reduced refinery runs in Thailand, one of major buyers for Malaysian grades.