LONDON, June 4 (Reuters) - Interest picked up for Angolan
grades on Tuesday after sellers lowered prices, but market
structure and high freight costs have hit demand, and a recent
rise in exports of medium crudes from the United States may
displace West African oil.
* U.S. medium-sour grades like Mars Heavy are in high demand
amid U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela, and more crude
produced in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico is being piped for export
from Louisiana instead of to domestic refiners. * Three crude cargoes have been loaded there since Friday,
including one chartered by Shell and two supertankers chartered
by Mercuria and China's Unipec, a major buyer of Angolan.
* Still, a cargo of medium-sweet Angolan CLOV was underway
en route to Louisiana, according to Refinitiv tradeflow data, a
rare import for the U.S. Gulf coast.
* Refining profit margins for jet fuel JETSGCKMc1 inched
down by two cents to $14.14 a barrel over Dubai crude during
Asian trade on Monday, further denting Asian demand.
* Cargoes from Angola's new, high-sulphur Mostarda stream
struggled to find buyers.
* China's Unipec was offering a cargo at a 30 cent premium
to dated Brent for loading July 1-2, Total another for loading
19-20 and Angola's Sonangol a third for July 28-29.
* Lighter Nigerian crude grades were still being offered at
high prices, but European buyers balked at high prices such as
around $3.00 above dated Brent for Bonny Light, citing low
refining margins.
TENDERS
* India's IOC issued a tender for a West African grade for
loading between August 1-10 due to close on Thursday.
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project which would double current capacity to 760,000 bpd of
Canadian crude from Alberta to Wisconsin. * Lower oil prices are starting to rebalance the oil market
by slowing the rise in U.S. crude output and encouraging Saudi
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