“The market is warmer than last week,” said one of the sources, adding that refiners were filling low inventories amid low crude prices and refining margins held up.

Surgutneftegaz sold a cargo Feb. 24-28 at $ 3.40-3.50 a barrel above Dubai’s likely quotes to Shell, the sources said, rising from $ 3.10 to $ 3.15 at the time of the previous call for tenders.

Another producer Gazprom Neft sold cargo for loading Feb. 14-28 to Unipec at a premium of around $ 3.40 a barrel, they said.

ASIA-PACIFIC GROSS

ConocoPhillips sold a cargo of loaded Kimanis crude in February at $ 6 a barrel above dated Brent, likely to PTT, traders said. Petronas also sold a shipment of Labuan in the same month at similar levels, they said.

PV Oil sold the loaded Bunga Orkid cargo in February at around $ 5 a barrel above dated Brent, traders said.

SPR

South Korea has decided to release 3.17 million barrels of oil reserves from January to March 2022, the country’s Ministry of Industry said Thursday, as part of a globally coordinated effort to stabilize prices and stimulate economic recovery.

Of the 3.17 million barrels – 3.3 percent of the total 97 million barrels of oil reserves – some 2.08 million barrels of crude will be distributed to local refiners through a lease, while that the remaining 1.09 million barrels of petroleum products will be distributed through a competitive bidding process. .

OFFERS

Thailand’s PTT bought Nigerian crude Erha and US WTI on behalf of refiner IRPC via a tender for arrival in March, traders said. Further information on pricing and sellers was not immediately available.

The Indian IOC has purchased at least 4 million barrels of West African crude for the February loading and has issued another tender that will close on Thursday.

REFINERY

The U.S. government has cleared the purchase by Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) of Royal Dutch Shell’s majority stake in a Texas oil refinery in a deal expected to close early next year, announced the Mexican government on Wednesday.

NEWS

Royal Dutch Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary, SPDC, has declared a force majeure on Forcados’ Nigerian crude oil exports after an oil tanker path was blocked by a failing barge, the company said in a statement.

Ocean freight costs are expected to remain high in 2022, as investors and regulators scramble to accelerate decarbonization of the shipping industry and businesses grapple with green finance, sources say.

Sri Lanka plans to settle $ 251 million in oil import duties owed to Iran by bartering tea, a Sri Lankan minister said on Wednesday as its foreign reserves dwindle.

Aramco Trading Company (ATC) said on Wednesday it has signed an agreement with Australian retailer United Petroleum for potential long-term fuel supply, product storage and other business opportunities.

(Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri) (([email protected]; Reuters messaging: [email protected]))