LONDON, April 28 (Reuters) - Offers for some grades of
Nigerian crude slipped on muted demand as traders worried that a
new wave of Indian COVID-19 infections could hit flows to one of
West Africa's top outlets.
* India's IOC has held off on issuing another buy tender as
it absorbs vast quantities, mostly purchased from Nigeria, in
previous weeks - adding to sellers' jitters.
* Traders see the pandemic shaving off some Indian demand
for the coming few months, but see some potential for European
markets to absorb some of the excess, though at lower prices.
* Offers for Bonny Light crude had sunk to near dated Brent
minus 50 cents, though loading delays at the terminal were also
contributing to the poor performance.
* Mideast-priced crude grades were better placed to reach
India and East Asia as the Brent-Dubai spread DUB-EFS-1M
reached the widest level in a year and a half this week.
* Angola finalised its June loading programme, keeping the
overall number of cargoes steady compared to provisional
versions of the export plan but adding a cargo of Kissanje.
TENDERS
* Chinese independent refiner Haike has a buy tender for
June arrival closing this week. The refiner is looking at a wide
variety of grades, not exclusively West African.
* Indonesia's Pertamina issued a buy tender for early June
loading or, alternatively, July arriving crude which is set to
close on Thursday.
RELATED NEWS
* U.S. bank Goldman Sachs expects commodities to rally
another 13.5% over the next six months on a worldwide reversal
of coronavirus curbs, lower interest rates and a weaker dollar,
its commodities research team said. * U.S. crude oil stockpiles edged higher last week, rising
less than expected as refiners ramped up activity, while
distillate inventories slumped on stronger demand, the Energy
Information Administration said.