LONDON, July 17 (Reuters) - One of the largest supply
surpluses in months looms for Nigerian crude days before its
preliminary September programmes are due to be released.
ANGOLA
* Angolan state oil company Sonangol was working out its
term allocations for September cargoes, traders said, a day
after it released its preliminary export programme.
* Only about 2-3 August-loading cargoes remained as Asian
margins and freight rates improved while Chinese refiners sought
to meet quotas.
* August buying by China, Angola's top customer, was not
heard to have drastically improved from the dismal July loading
period, though prices had come off significantly.
* Around 2-3 cargoes of Congolese Djeno also remained from
August amid the sluggish East Asian demand.
NIGERIA
* Around 40 cargoes remained for August loading as
preliminary September programmes were awaited later this week or
early next.
* Nigerian light sweet varieties have been in competition
with booming U.S. output, while a major bounce for European
gasoline margins in the wake of the Philadelphia refinery outage
has not resulted in improved Nigerian sales.
TENDERS
* Indonesia's Pertamina has issued a tender for one cargo
per month for October-December delivery, set to close on Monday.
RELATED NEWS
* Officials from Eni ENI.MI sought to convince a witness,
a former manager with the firm, to withdraw some statements he
made during investigations into a Nigerian corruption case
involving the group, a court heard on Wednesday. * U.S. crude stockpiles fell more than expected last week,
while gasoline and distillate inventories rose, the Energy
Information Administration said on Wednesday.