LONDON, June 21 (Reuters) - Nigeria increased its official
selling price (OSP) for major crude grades on perked-up demand,
especially in Northwest Europe, as preliminary loading
programmes for August were expected shortly.
NIGERIA
* Nigeria's NNPC on Thursday significantly raised the July
OSP for major grades Bonny Light, up to 204 cents from 156 cents
per barrel last month, and Qua Iboe, at 215 cents from 171 cents
per barrel. * The move reflects new confidence in Nigerian barrels as
selling to Europe has been robust in June, with outages hitting
competing North Sea fields.
* A fire "like a nuclear bomb" ripped through Philadelphia
Energy Solutions Inc's PESC.N refinery, the largest and oldest
on the U.S. East Coast and a consistent importer of Nigerian
crude. * At least 20 cargoes remain for July loading, as
preliminary August programmes were awaited imminently.
ANGOLA
* Around half a dozen cargoes remain for July loading, while
the preliminary programme for August added another 45 cargoes.
* China's Unipec is again offering West African cargoes on
the Platts Window after doing so for several grades last month,
partly to attract market attention to slow demand and also to
offload unwanted crude.
* Asian refining margins for 10ppm gasoil GO10SGCKMc1 , a
key middle distillate refined from heavier Angolan barrels,
slipped on Friday as crude prices rose, a sign that Asian demand
for heavier WAF crude may remain sluggish.
* Finalization of state oil company Sonangol's term
allocations was expected, with sellers keen to see price
markdowns for later-selling July cargoes continued into August.
* But as China draws down stocks of Iranian crude it bought
in bulk in April ahead of U.S. sanctions, traders say Angolan
might be sought especially as new commercial tanks are expected
to come online shortly.
RELATED NEWS
* Crude and condensate in long-term floating storage hit
its highest since August 2017 in May at 24 million barrels, as
U.S. sanctions against Venezuela and Iran hindered the ability
of the OPEC members to export. * Indonesia's state energy firm Pertamina PERTM.UL is
still in talks with U.S. oil majors Chevron CVX.N and Exxon
Mobil XOM.N to buy their share of Indonesian crude output for
the second half this year, a senior Pertamina official said.