Will Cunliffe
Research Analyst, The Officials
Markets feeling tender
More tenders keep flowing but ships get whacked - it's chaos on the high seas! Asian cracks still going strong as China stirs
More tenders keep flowing but ships get whacked - it's chaos on the high seas! Asian cracks still going strong as China stirs
ADNOC’s latest tender got a lot of interest from Asian buyers, as SK Energy and CPC Taiwan were among those picking up barrels. A source said these two bought at around flat to Dubai, though some bids were placed at hefty discounts to the benchmark. Lately, Dubai pricing has been all over the shop, so it’s hardly surprising some buyers are looking to snag a bargain.
But prices are up a lot from their early-July lows, as the Dubai physical premium has jumped from consistently in the -$3/bbl range in the first week to much closer to flat. That’s hardly a surprise, given the major escalations; the US clobbered another ship, a tanker heading towards Kharg Island. CENTCOM said it whacked the Belma (IMO: 9289491) crude tankers, a Curaçao flagged crude tanker. That brings the total redirected vessels since the blockade restarted to two and disabled count to one, according to CENTCOM.
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