Middle East Crude

　In trade for May-loading Iraqi grades, supply remained tight. Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) seemed to have bought 700,000barerls of Khafji instead of Basrah Medium (BM) via a tender closed on Tuesday. Through the tender, HPCL was trying to BM for May-arrival and other Middle East medium-heavy grades with high bitumen yields. There had been few offers for BM into the tender and thus HPCL did not purchase BM, according to sources. Regarding the awarded cargo of Khafji, one trader in Singapore pointed out that Aramco Trading sold the cargo for May 16-21 arrival to HPCL at premiums of about $2 to Dubai quotes on a CFR India basis.

African/European/Russian/American Crude

　A loading schedule for Angolan grades in June was released. It turned out that a total of 34 cargoes planned to be loaded. The supply was two cargoes more than the previous month but the supply volume was largely stable from normal months. Of these, Angolan producer Sonangol would handle 15 cargoes in total. Of these, four cargoes each of Nemba, Dalia and Mostarda, three cargoes of Clove were slated. In addition, two cargoes each of Girassol, Kissanje, Hungo, Plutonio, Pazflor, Sangos and Saturno planned to be loaded. Supply for Cabinda was limited to one cargo. In addition, one cargo each of Saxi, Olombendo, Gindungo were allocated. The background for falling Cabinda supply was unclear at this stage. As for the market outlook for June-loading Angolan grades, a trader in Singapore predicted that the market would be stable.

Asia Pacific Crude

　In trade for June-loading Vietnamese grades, PetroVietnam Oil Corp (PV OIL) awarded a Chim Sao sell tender to Bin Son Refining & Petrochemical (BSR). The awarded price was heard at premiums of about $7 to Dated Brent. Through the tender closed on April 12 at 9:00 Vietnam time with offers valid until Wednesday at 18:00, PV OIL was trying to sell one cargo of 300,000 barrels for Jun 25-29 loading.