LONDON, April 23 (Reuters) - Refining margins for very
low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) continued to buttress prices for
some West African crude grades, as Nigeria revised down its
official selling prices for May.
* VLSFO cracks in Asia were boosting differentials for
medium-to-heavy sweet oil grades from West Africa including
Nigerian Egina, Escravos and Agbami, traders said.
* Though stocks of the product were high and margins were
easing compared to earlier in the week, VLSFO demand also helped
push up offers of Angolan Dalia to about dated Brent minus 40
cents.
* Nigeria sharply reduced official selling prices for some
of its main grades, likely due to more muted demand and a large
glut of unsold cargoes.
* Traders welcomed the move, noting that last month's
decision to keep April prices steady with those of March did not
reflect the deterioration in demand that Nigerian crude had
faced.
* More Nigerian export plans for June emerged, with loadings
of Bonny Light and Bonga crude set to increase slightly from the
previous month.
* Traders awaited results of buy tenders for sweet crude
which closed on Thursday, issued by Indonesia's Pertamina,
Taiwan's CPC and Thailand's PTT.
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administration over a proposed U.S. bill against the group,
known as NOPEC, and to explain that passing the bill could put
at risk U.S. interests abroad. * Russia plans to raise oil exports from its western ports
to 6.74 million tonnes in May compared to 6.37 million tonnes in
the April export plan, the preliminary schedule showed on
Friday.