LONDON, March 24 (Reuters) - Price offers for Nigerian and
Angolan crude continued to slip on Wednesday as the European
demand outlook was clouded by new lockdown measures while
Chinese buying remained muted.
* West African sales were nearly as poor as in the depths of
the pandemic last spring, traders noted, with dozens of
April-loading cargoes unsold and differentials down.
* One trader cited the lack of local refining capacity and
reliance on other markets for demand at a time of backwardation
and relatively high freight costs.
* Several April-loading Angolan cargoes remained unsold,
including a handful belonging to China's Unipec.
* Unipec last offered cargoes of Plutonio and Mostarda for
dated Brent minus $1 a barrel but it was believed to also be
seeking the sale of others outside the Platts window.
* Taiwan's CPC closed its buy tender for June-arriving sweet
crude and traders said it is likely to have bought Angolan oil.
* Oando was offering a cargo of Nigerian Pennington at dated
Brent plus $1.95 a barrel, down nearly 40 cents from earlier in
the week, though no buyers emerged.
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* With oil prices making steady gains early this year, OPEC
and other producers had hoped to ease output cuts, but industry
sources say a fresh wave of lockdowns around the world threatens
those plans. * African nations could play a central role in efforts by
India to diversify its sources of oil and gas, India's oil
minister said on Wednesday, as the nation strives to reduce its
Middle East energy reliance.