LONDON, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Angolan crude exports will rise
significantly in December as the Girassol field has resumed
production following maintenance last month, traders said.
* Preliminary programmes showed Angola is set to export 44
cargoes in December, up from a final programme of 38 in
November.
* The export plan excluded the Saxi field, which traders
said was likely down due to maintenance.
* A supertanker owned by COSCO Shipping Tankers received a
temporary waiver from U.S. sanctions, allowing the ship to
discharge crude oil in Singapore and Brunei.
* The sanctions caused freight rates to spike and confused
market participants, especially those dealing in oil already
underway inside sanctioned ships.
* The exception made for the VLCC Coswisdom Lake has led
traders to believe other one-off waivers may be forthcoming.
* Freight rates for shipping West African oil to Europe have
eased, from world scale 275 to 230 according to a European
importer.
* Prices for some Nigerian grades have dipped to dated Brent
negative, highly unusual for those types of crude best suited
for refining into profitable products like gasoline.
* Total sold a cargo of light sweet Nigerian Amenam to Cepsa
while Sahara was offering another cargo of the grade - both
likely negative compared to dated Brent.
* Cepsa's snapping up of several lighter Nigerian grades in
the last week was due partly to having commissioned time charter
vessels in advance, scoring cheaper freight on free-on-board
rates than paying on a spot basis.
* India's HPCL has issued a buy tender, for three VLCCs of
crude loading in the first quarter of next year, set to close on
Friday.
RELATED NEWS
* Freight rates to ship U.S. crude to Asia eased on Tuesday
from record levels as the shock of a global tanker shortage due
to U.S. sanctions on a Chinese firm began to fade, according to
market sources. * U.S. sanctions imposed last month on subsidiaries of vast
Chinese shipping fleet COSCO have given an unexpected boost to
European refiners as less crude oil from the North Sea and West
Africa heads east, traders and analysts said.