LONDON, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Gasoline cracks and high prices
for competing North Sea grades kept price offers high for light,
sweet Nigerian crude, though two key streams have suffered
loading issues.
* A slightly smaller January loading volume for North Sea
benchmark grades and multi-year price highs for the likes of
Forties kept offers for some light, sweet Nigerian grades above
a $3 premium to dated Brent.
* Less than 10 cargoes of Nigerian crude remain for export
in December -- a record low for 2019 -- as European refiners
continue to maintain high interest.
* The Bonga stream is set to export only a single cargo
because of maintenance issues that also curtailed December
exports.
* Sabotage on a major pipeline feeding exports of Bonny
Light oil led to a small change to the timeline of exports this
week, carrying over a cargo each assigned to Shell and Vitol
from December to January.
* One cargo of Forcados crude for export over Jan. 9-10 was
reassigned from Shoreline to Vitol and another for Jan. 18-19
from Seplat to Mercuria.
* Indonesia's Pertamina issued a buy tender for Feb. 8-12
and Feb. 13-22 delivery. The tender closes on Dec. 2 and remains
valid until Dec. 4.
* Pertamina bought U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI)
Midland crude for delivery between February and June, it
announced last week, in a sign that a once-secure market for
Nigerian crude was facing increasing U.S. competition.
RELATED NEWS
* Chevron has launched the sale of its stakes in two
Nigerian offshore oil and gas blocks, a sale document seen by
Reuters shows, as the company seeks to dispose of ageing assets
to focus on its fast-growing U.S. production. * Equatorial Guinea announced plans to build two new oil
refineries among other energy projects worth $1 billion in an
effort to diversify a sector that provides more than 90% of its
foreign revenue. * The Nigerian government on Thursday placed a bank
guarantee of $200 million with a London court to secure a stay
on asset seizures of up to $9 billion related to a failed gas
project.