Despite the resurgence of coronavirus infections lately, Asian buyers are snatching on US cheap crude cargoes, forsaking some Middle Eastern deals.
Traders involved in the transaction said that in August, Chinese, Indian, and South Korean firms have bought no less than 7 million barrels of US oil for arrival through October to November. Indian refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp. purchased 2 million barrels of WTI Midland crude for October arrival, while two other Northeast Asian buyers acquired 5 million barrels of the Mars grade for November.
The cheaper US oil prices came on the back of the slower domestic summer travel season.
On the contrary, some of the Middle Eastern grades were hiked for Asian buyers in August even when some of the buyers are going through renewed movement restrictions.
On Friday, the premium of WTI to the Middle East’s Dubai marker was at 61 cents/barrel, compared to a premium of more than USD2 a month earlier.
According to traders, while offers for US oil have gained slightly recently, they are still competitive against comparable grades from the Middle East and Russia’s the Far East.
