Sudan sells Nile blend crude for May at a lower discount
April 2, 2009 (SINGAPORE) – Sudan managed to sell 800,000 barrels of heavy sweet Nile Blend crude for May loading, traders told Reuters on Thursday.
Sudan had previously skipped April spot sales for unknown reasons. The volume of the current tender is less than the average of 1-1.2 million barrels per month (bpm).
The 800,000-barrel cargo was awarded to the European trader Arcadia.
Traders had said on Wednesday European trader Glencore had likely won the tender, which had not yet been officially awarded, at a deeper discount of $5.35-5.40 a barrel.
The Greater Nile project which produces this heavy sweet, high-quality, Nile Blend crude has experienced diminishing productivity lately from 325,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 200,000.
State oil firm Sudapet last sold via tender 2.2 million barrels of March-loading Nile Blend at a discount of around $7.50 a barrel to the Minas Indonesia Crude Price (ICP) to Chinese traders Unipec and Chinaoil as well as European trader Arcadia.
Minas, the benchmark for heavy sweet crudes sold in Asia, such as Nile Blend, normally trades below light sweet Brent crude, except at times of acute power shortages in Japan.
India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), which holds a 25 percent stake in the Great Nile project, sold last month a 600,000-barrel Nile Blend cargo for May loading at a discount of around $6.50 a barrel to Minas ICP.
(ST)